HOWE BOARD OF EDUCATION POLICY                         EFBC-R

COMPUTER USE (REGULATION)

In accordance with the policy of the board of education, this regulation governs the use of computers and computer technology in this district.

Personal computers not owned by the school district shall not be brought to school or used in school except with permission of the superintendent or the superintendent's designee.

School district computers and computer accessories will be used only by students and faculty members. School district patrons may be permitted to used school equipment only under certain circumstances as determined by the board of education. Permission to used school computers or other school technology is granted as a privilege that may be withdrawn for violation of this policy or for failure to follow the verbal or written instructions and directions of school faculty or system operators.

All persons who use school district computers (users) will read and indicate understanding of any rules and procedures posted on classroom bulletin boards, computer bulletin boards, or computer operating procedures in either hardcopy (typed or written) or softcopy (recorded electronically within the computer or a computer accessory) or specific class instructions.

Teachers or instructors of any class in which computers are used will establish written procedures for the use of computers and computer technology within the framework of that particular class and will insure that all members of the class read and understand such procedures.

Students and faculty using a school computer for the purpose of telecommunications with any other computer within the district or outside the district, private or commercial computer bulletin board, or any computer network such as Internet, will read and indicate an understanding of the rules and procedures governing such telecommunications and will adhere thereto.

Users will not upload or download any copyrighted material. It is the user's responsibility to determine if material is copyrighted. Failure to cite content accessed electronically is academic misconduct. Students or staff may be disciplined for failing to appropriately cite materials. Users will not copy school district computer software for any reason. Backup copies of computer software will be made only by authorized faculty members and will be maintained by the superintendent or the superintendent's designee.

Computer software will be installed into, or removed from, school district computers only by, or at the direction of, an authorized faculty member. No commercial software will be installed in or used on a district computer except in accordance with a user site license granted by the softward developer. Students are prohibited from installing software of any kind or loading or reading personal data into a school district computer or computer system except as part of a class project or except as directed by authorized faculty members. Personally owned diskettes or tape cartridges or any other removable media will not be used in school computers except as authorized by a classroom teacher or other authorized faculty member.

In addition to reading and adhering to any on-line rules and procedures, users will not use profanity or abusive language toward, or otherwise harass, any other user or system operator of any bulletin board or telecommuunications entity.

Telecommunication users will not log into any area that obviously contains pornographic material in any form. Users will not download any form of pornographic material. Students must obtain an Internet Acces Conduct Agreement and have the form signed by the student's parent, legal guardian or other legal custodian before using any district computer that has telecommunication capabilities. It is the responsibility of the classroom teacher, instructor, or the appropriate faculty member to insure that such form is on file before a student is permitted to use computer telecommunications equipment.

It is unlawful for a person to send an electronic message if the return address has been altered in order to disguise the point of origin or if the message contains false, malicious, or misleading information that purposely or negligently injures a person.

The superintendent or designee shall have access to all materials loaded or stored on the district's computers. Accordingly, no user of the district's computers shall be deemed to have a privacy right in any programs, files or data, including contents of business or personal e-mail, loaded or stored on district computers.

Violations of this policy by an employee of the school district may result in disciplinary proceedings including the termination of employment.

Violations of this policy by students may result in disciplinary proceedings including suspension and the loss of user privileges.

Violations of this policy by school patrons may result in the loss of user privileges.

No legitimate expectation of privacy exists for users of the school district's Internet service or computers. Activity may be monitored at any time and disciplinary action taken for inappropriate use.

Students and staff have an affirmative duty to notify the administration of sites that were inappropriately accessed so that the computers may be checked and inappropriate materials removed from the hard drive.

              Adoption Date: April 25, 2005

 Computer Use Policies