Each staff member must sign this Authorization as a condition for using the District's Electronic Network connection. Each student and his or her parent(s)/guardian(s) must sign the Authorization before being granted unsupervised access. Please read this document carefully before signing.
All use of electronic networks shall be consistent with the District's goal of promoting educational excellence by facilitating resource sharing, innovation, and communication. These procedures do not attempt to state all required or proscribed behavior by users. However, some specific examples are provided. The failure of any user to follow these procedures will result in the loss of privileges, disciplinary action, and/or appropriate legal action.
All authorized users (defined as Stockton CUSD's students, staff, employees, consultants, parent-or community-volunteers under the supervision of a school principal or his/her designee, and non-Board employees such as interns) are to adhere to the provisions of this policy. Use of Internet, Intranet, electronic mail, and computer access must be in compliance with federal and state laws, City ordinances, and Stockton Board of Education rules, policies, and procedures including, but not limited to, personnel procedures, and policies prohibiting discrimination in all forms.
Terms and Conditions
Acceptable Use - Access to the District's electronic network must be: (a) for the purpose of education or research, and be consistent with the District's educational objectives, or (b) for legitimate business use.
Privileges - The use of the District's electronic network is a privilege, not a right, and inappropriate use will result in a cancellation of those privileges. The Internet, Intranet, electronic mail, and computer access are to be used only for business pertaining to the Stockton School District, with allowance made for modest amounts of incidental personal use. The system administrator will make all decisions regarding whether or not a user has violated these procedures and may deny, revoke, or suspend access at any time. The system administrator may remove installed programs, delete/edit files, and adjust user settings at his or her discretion. His or her decision is final.
Unacceptable Use - The user is responsible for his or her actions and activities involving the network (including access to websites, e-mail, chat rooms, discussion boards, and instant messaging). Some examples of unacceptable uses include:
a. Using the network for any illegal activity, including violation of copyright or other contracts, or transmitting any material in violation of any State or federal law;
b. Downloading or installing of software without consent of the Director of Technology, regardless of whether the software is properly copyrighted or de-virused;
c. Using the network for private financial or commercial gain;
d. Wastefully using resources, such as file space and bandwidth;
e. Hacking or gaining unauthorized access to files, resources, or entities and/or highly sensitive information sources to which explicit authorization has not been granted, including, but not limited to, information obtained in violation of the Illinois School Student Records Act (105 ILCS 10/);
f. Invading the privacy of individuals, this includes the unauthorized disclosure, dissemination, and use of information about anyone that is of a personal nature including a photograph;
g. Using another user's account or password
h. Providing access to unauthorized users ;
i. Posting material authored or created by another without his/her consent;
j. Posting anonymous messages;
k. Using the network for commercial or private advertising;
l. Disclosing the contents or existence of SSD206 computer files, electronic mail, or other information to anyone other than authorized recipients;
m. Accessing, submitting, posting, publishing, or displaying any defamatory, inaccurate, abusive, obscene, profane, sexually oriented, threatening, racially offensive, harassing, or illegal material; and
n. Using the network while access privileges are suspended or revoked.
Network Etiquette - The user is expected to abide by the generally accepted rules of network etiquette. These include, but are not limited to, the following:
a. Be polite. Do not become abusive in messages to others.
b. Use appropriate language. Do not swear, or use vulgarities or any other inappropriate language.
c. Do not reveal personal information, including the addresses or telephone numbers, of students or colleagues.
d. Recognize that electronic mail (e-mail) is not private. People who operate the system have access to all mail. Messages relating to or in support of illegal activities may be reported to the authorities.
e. Do not use the network in any way that would disrupt its use by other users. This may include, but is not limited to streaming video or music, downloading videos or music, and playing online games.
f. Consider all communications and information accessible via the network to be private property.
No Warranties - The District makes no warranties of any kind, whether expressed or implied, for the service it is providing. The District will not be responsible for any damages the user suffers. This includes loss of data resulting from delays, non-deliveries, missed-deliveries, or service interruptions caused by its negligence or the user's errors or omissions. Use of any information obtained via the Internet is at the user's own risk. The District specifically denies any responsibility for the accuracy or quality of information obtained through its services.
Indemnification - The user agrees to indemnify the School District for any losses, costs, or damages, including reasonable attorney fees, incurred by the District relating to, or arising out of, any violation of these procedures.
Security - Network security is a high priority. If the user can identify a security problem on the Internet, the user must notify the system administrator or Building Principal. The user should not demonstrate the problem to other users. Users must keep account and password information confidential. Users must not use another individual's account without written permission from that individual. Attempts to log-on to the Internet as a system administrator will result in cancellation of user privileges. Any user identified as a security risk may be denied access to the network.
Vandalism - Vandalism will result in cancellation of privileges and other disciplinary action. Vandalism is defined as any malicious attempt to harm or destroy data of another user, the Internet, or any other network. This includes, but is not limited to, the uploading or creation of computer viruses.
Charges - The District assumes no responsibility for any unauthorized charges or fees, including telephone charges, long-distance charges, per-minute surcharges, and/or equipment or line costs. The District assumes no responsibility for subscription services unless the service is purchased using a valid purchase order as part of a curriculum or workforce initiative.
Copyright Web Publishing Rules - Copyright law and District policy prohibit the re-publishing of text or graphics found on the Web or on District Web sites or file servers without explicit written permission.
a. For each re-publication (on a Web site or file server) of a software program, graphic or a text file that was produced externally, there must be a notice at the bottom of the page crediting the original producer and noting how and when permission was granted. If possible, the notice should also include the Web address of the original source.
b. Students and staff engaged in producing Web pages must provide the system administrator with e-mail or hard copy permissions before the Web pages are published. Printed evidence of the status of public domain documents must be provided.
c. The absence of a copyright notice may not be interpreted as permission to copy the materials. Only the copyright owner may provide the permission. The manager of the Web site displaying the material may not be considered a source of permission.
d. Student work is copyrighted by the student and may only be published if there is written permission from the parent/guardian.
General Guidelines for Use of Electronic Mail - The District's electronic mail (e-mail) system, and its constituent software, hardware, and data files, are owned and controlled by the School District. The School District provides email to aid staff members in fulfilling their duties and responsibilities, and as an education tool. Accordingly, staff using e-mail must adhere to the following guidelines:
a. The District reserves the right to access and disclose the contents of any account on its system, without prior notice or permission from the account's user. Unauthorized access by any student or staff member to an electronic mail account is strictly prohibited.
b. Each person should use the same degree of care in drafting an electronic mail message as would be put into a written memorandum or document. Nothing should be transmitted in an e-mail message that would be inappropriate in a letter or memorandum.
c. E-mail transmitted via the School District's e-mail system/network will identify the author as being affiliated with the School District. Accordingly, e-mail messages should be consistent with professional practices for other correspondence including use of proper grammar, format and salutation. Users will be held personally responsible for the content of any and all e-mail messages they transmit.
d. Any e-mail received from an unknown sender via the Internet should either be immediately deleted or forwarded to the system administrator. Downloading any file attached to any Internet-based message is prohibited unless the user is certain of the e-mail's authenticity and the nature of the transmitted file. Responding to an unknown sender and providing student record information (e.g. student grades or discipline information) is a violation of the Illinois School Student Records Act (105 ILCS 10/).
e. Staff members should refrain from using stationery or attaching unnecessary images photos, or pictures to e-mails. The recipient may not be able to view these images and large file sizes can slow network performance for the sender and receiver.
f. Staff members should not forward virus alerts or other computer warnings. Any concern over viruses or computer performance issues should be directed to the District technology office.
g. Messages containing personal or confidential communications should not be forwarded without the original sender's permission.
h. Sending District wide e-mail announcements is permissible only by administrators and other select staff members. If a staff member needs to send an e-mail to all District employees, he/she should send the message to his/her building administrator for approval and distribution.
i. Staff members must use personal e-mail services to keep personal communication separate from school-related business. Personal e-mail should be sent from a user's personal e-mail account's web access interface. Most service providers (Comcast, Verizon, Aero, Yahoo, and Google) provide web access to e-mail as part of their e-mail services.
j. School-related business may not be conducted via a staff member's personal e-mail service.
k. Do not use the District's e-mail for non-educational uses including games, wagering, gambling, junk mail, chain letters, jokes, raffles, fundraisers, religious activities or political lobbying.
l. Do not use discussion boards, chat rooms and instant messaging for personal rather than education purposes.
m. Do not use the District's e-mail or computers for purposes of financial gain or the transaction of any business or commercial activities.
n. Do not use the District's e-mail to transmit copyrighted materials without permission of the copyright holder.
o. Do not use e-mail or any District computing resources to send obscene, abusive, threatening, defamatory, or harassing messages.
p. Refrain from using e-mail to violate any school policy or federal, state or local law.
q. Use of the School District's e-mail system/network constitutes consent to follow these guidelines. The District's network is routinely monitored for compliance with these guidelines.
Guidelines for E-mail Communication with Parents
Using e-mail as a means of communicating with parents is voluntary. A parent cannot require that a staff member correspond via e-mail. Similarly, a staff member cannot make e-mail the only option for communicating with parents. Communication with parents through use of e-mail should only take place when a parent has agreed that e-mail is an acceptable form of communication and they have volunteered their e-mail address.
E-mail messages may only be sent to parents at the e-mail addresses that are on file in the District student record database. Staff members must confirm that the e-mail address is on file before responding to or initiating any parent communication via e-mail.
All e-mails sent and received on any District e-mail account containing information by which a student may be individually identified and which is of clear relevance to the education of the student is considered a school student record and will be archived by the District for a minimum of five years. Such information shall not be released other than as provided by law. Accordingly, staff using e-mail to correspond with parents must adhere to the following guidelines:
E-mails to parents must never be used to discuss contentious, emotional or highly confidential issues such as discipline or special education matters (e.g. I am concerned that your daughter failed the last three tests and was not at school again today; I am concerned that your daughter may have a learning disability). These issues should be handled face-to-face or by phone. E-mails to parents must not include personally identifiable information about a student, the staff member's personal information, or any discussion about other students or staff. E-mails to parents should be short and directional in nature and only include facts (e.g. The meeting is scheduled to take place on Friday, I would like to arrange for a meeting to discuss your child's attendance; I enjoyed meeting you at our parent-teacher conference and want to reiterate what a pleasure it is having your child in class; As requested, the homework assignment for Tuesday was to read chapter 3 of the social studies book).
If a teacher chooses not to use e-mail to communicate with parents or feels like a topic is too sensitive for an e-mail reply, below are responses that may be used:
Thank you for your e-mail. The Stockton School District does not use e-mail to discuss confidential student information. In order to best address your concerns and quickly answer your questions, please feel free to call me at (insert building phone number) and I will be happy to discuss this with you further. Thank you for your active interest in your child's education.
Thank you for your e-mail. I feel this concern is too sensitive for e-mail. I would prefer to speak in person regarding this matter. I will call you on (state the date and time) to discuss this matter further. Thank you for your active interest in your child's education.
Internet Safety
Internet access is limited to only those acceptable uses as detailed in these procedures. Internet safety is almost assured if users will not engage in unacceptable uses, as detailed in these procedures, and otherwise follow these procedures.
Staff members shall supervise students while students are using District Internet access to ensure that the students abide by the Terms and Conditions for Internet access contained in these procedures.
Each District computer with Internet access has a filtering device that blocks entry to visual depictions that are: (1) obscene, (2) pornographic, or (3) harmful or inappropriate for students, as defined by the Children's Internet Protection Act and as determined by the Superintendent or designee.
The system administrator and Building Principals shall monitor student Internet access.
This plan has been designed to be complaint with the Children's Internet Protection Act (CIPA).