General Policy

         The Highland Falls Fort Montgomery Central Public Schools has established a computer network in keeping with its own mission, goals and objectives to provide educational tools for educational purposes for students, staff, and the community. The network has not been established as a public access service or public forum. Uses that might be acceptable on a user's personal computer might not be acceptable on this limited purpose network. Students must follow all rules contained within this policy at all times. Students must also follow the direction of faculty and staff members supervising any area where networked resources can be accessed. Rules governing student behavior set forth in the School Disciplinary Code apply to the use of school computer facilities and machines. The proper use of the Internet, and the educational value to be gained from proper Internet use, is the joint responsibility of students, parents and employees of the school district.

Guidelines for Use

a)      Users will accept the responsibility for keeping all pornographic material, gambling material, inappropriate text files, material dangerous to the safety of students and staff, or files dangerous to the school's computer network from entering the school via the Internet.

b)      Users will not transmit or receive any material, language, or images in violation of U.S. or New York laws that advocate violence or discrimination toward other people (hate literature). Also included, but not limited to, is abusive, threatening, harassing, lewd, vulgar, obscene, pornographic, or sexually explicit material, language or images or material protected by trade secret.

c)      Users will not engage in any illegal act or violate any local, state or federal statute or law.

d)      Users will not vandalize, damage or disable other people's property and will not deliberately disrupt equipment, software or system performance. Users will not tamper with the school district system software, hardware, and wiring or violate the school district system's security in any way. Users will not disrupt the use of the system for others.

e)      Users must respect others' privacy and intellectual property as required in "The Children's Internet Protection Act."

f).     An Internet filtering system called R3000 Enterprise Filter provided by Orange/Ulster BOCES. This will filter out unwanted site both globally and by URL.

g)      Users will not attempt to gain unauthorized access to the school district's system or to any other system through the school district's system. They will not use computer accounts, access codes or network identification other than any assigned to them.

h)      Users are responsible for notifying an appropriate staff member if he/she identifies a security problem. Users should not demonstrate the problem to other users.

i)       Users will not violate copyright laws, or licensing agreements, or use another person's property without the person's prior approval or proper citation, including downloading or exchanging of pirated software or copying software to or from any school computer, and will not plagiarize works they find on the Internet.

j)       If a user mistakenly accesses unacceptable material or an unacceptable Internet site, the user shall immediately inform a teacher or other appropriate staff member. This will protect the user from any accusations that the user intentionally violated this policy.

k)      Games, Instant Messenger, journaling, chat rooms, and similar activities are prohibited and may not be accessed or played on school computers.

System Use is a Privilege

         The use of the school district system and access to use of the Internet is a privilege, not a right. Depending on the nature and degree of the violation and the number of previous violations, one or more of the following consequences may result: suspension or cancellation of network privileges, payment for damages and repairs, and/or discipline under other appropriate school district policies, including suspension, expulsion, or civil or criminal liability under other applicable laws.

         Tampering with computer security systems and/or applications will be considered vandalism, destruction, and defacement of school property. Vandalism is defined as any malicious attempt to harm or destroy data of another user, the Internet, or other networks that are connected National Science Foundation NET Internet Backbone.

         Any user identified as a security risk or having a history of problems with other computer systems may be denied access to the Internet.

Implementation

         The school district's Internet policies and procedures are available for review by all parents, guardians, staff and members of the community. Due to rapid changes in the development of computer networks and Internet access, this policy may be reviewed and updated when necessary.

         The Acceptable Use Policy agreement form must be signed by the user and parent or guardian and filed in the school office.

NOTE:      Refer also to Policy #8271 -- Children's Internet Protection Act: Internet Content Filtering/Safety Policy