September 2010

The rich sources of informationavailable on the Internet hold the promise of greatly enhancingthe quality of education available to all students. Therefore, Internet access will be made available to all students in the District for the purposes of communication, research, and education.

District personnel will monitor student Internet use and the degree of access to the Internet will be dependent upon the age of students.

Ultimately, parents /guardians of minors are responsible for setting and conveying the standards that their children should follow when using electronic resources. To that end, we support and respect each family’s right to decide whether or not to apply for access.

Acceptable Use of the Internet

Individual Users shall:

Understand that access to the Internet is a privilege not a right. Users are responsible for their own behavior and inappropriate use may result in loss of the privilege.
Understand that use of the school’s electronic resources is not confidential and may be monitored at any time by designated staff to ensure appropriate use.
Understand that not all information on the Internet is accurate and not all people are who they claim to be.
Not give out personal information about themselves or others, such as name, school, address, or phone number.
Not purposefully access or send materials which include text, pictures, or video or audio files that are rude, disrespectful, abusive, obscene, threatening, harassing, damaging to another’s reputation, or illegal.
Report any messages or web sites that are suggestive, obscene, threatening, to the supervising teacher, Technology Coordinator, Guidance Counselor, or Principal , and not respond to any such messages.
Not use the school’s electronic resources and Internet connection for commercial or illegal purposes.
Not copy or redistribute copyrighted programs or data except with the written permission of the copyright holder or designee.
Not plagiarize work using the school’s electronic resources (plagiarism is taking the ideas, writings, or work of others and presenting them as one’s own). All information used should be properly credited.
Not abuse the school’s electronic network by downloading large files or sending annoying or unnecessary messages to a large number of people.
Not attempt to damage computers, computer networks or software.
Not upload, download or redistribute software programs to the system without prior permission.
Not gain or attempt to gain unauthorized access to the school’s electronic resources, network or restricted information.
Not access chat rooms or instant messaging programs without prior permission to use these resources for educational purposes

Individual users may have access to e-mail accounts set up for classroom projects under the supervision of the teacher.

Limitation of Liability

The school is not responsible for the accuracy or quality of information obtained through the Internet. The school will not be responsible for any damage individual users may suffer, including but not limited to loss of data or interruption of service. The school will not be responsible for financial obligations arising through the unauthorized use of the system. Parents/guardians of the individual user may be held financially responsible for any harm to the system as a result of carelessness or intentional misuse.

Consequences

Use of the Internet is subject to existing school policies, as indicated in the Lyme School Handbook. The principal and technology coordinator will determine whether specific uses of the network are consistent with school policies. If there is evidence that a violation has occurred, the Principal shall be notified and will determine appropriate consequences.