NORTH PENN SCHOOL DISTRICT
Administrative Regulations
4121(a)
PERSONNEL
Reference: Board Policy #4121
All District Employees
Responsible and Acceptable Use of Computer Network and Internet
This regulation describes the requirements for the responsible and acceptable use of the district
computer network and internet for all categories of employees, as well as consultants, business
partners, and vendors. It is further supported by Board Policy # 4121 Internet Responsible and
Acceptable Use Policy and the comprehensive employee handbook which defines acceptable
use of the network in the academic setting. This regulation is intended to:
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provide employees with a resource that will help them identify behaviors which are
inconsistent with the district’s beliefs as expressed through the vision statement, mission
statement and core values; and
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provide the district with the basis for taking disciplinary action against individuals whose
behavior and actions are inconsistent with the values inherent to the educational mission
of the district.
An individual’s agreement to abide by these requirements is an implicit expectation of
employment. The district expects that all employees will have read the policy before using the
school’s network and associated computer systems. An infraction of any provision of the
policy will be treated as a serious offense, and if deemed necessary, could result in
disciplinary action up to and including termination of employment. In addition, the district
reserves the right to notify local, state and/or federal officials when it suspects unlawful use of
the network and associated computer systems.
Purpose
Policy # 4121 defines how technology, including use of district computers, mobile devices, email,
and the Internet, will be used to enhance school curriculum and serve as a resource for improving,
extending, and enriching teaching and learning in the district.
Network and Internet access is provided to enable each employee to fulfill his/her work
responsibilities effectively and efficiently.
Employee Responsibilities
With the rights assigned for use of the district network and access to the internet come certain
responsibilities. Users need to familiarize themselves with these responsibilities. All users
assume full liability for their actions when using the district network.
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4121(b)
Employees shall abide by the following:
• network users will access and/or transfer only materials that are consistent with the district’s
educational mission and are otherwise necessary for affirmed educational objectives or
job- related performance objectives. Individual users will not purposely transfer
defamatory, inaccurate, abusive, obscene, profane, sexually explicit, gambling related,
threatening, racially offensive or illegal material on the network;
• all users must recognize that the internet is to a substantial extent, an unregulated,
unsupervised and uncensored source of information and method of communication. An
employee who inadvertently becomes part of a transfer of inappropriate material is
obligated to report the incident to the manager of technology. Purposeful transfer of this
type of material is forbidden. Incidents requiring the notification of the technology manager
include, but are not limited to:
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acquiring or attempting to acquire passwords of others;
revealing a password;
using or attempting to use computer accounts of others;
altering the communication of another person in an attempt to deceive;
use of school district network resources to engage in any illegal activity; and
disabling virus protection software or procedures.
It is the responsibility of the user to protect personal and shared accounts for unauthorized
use by (a) periodically changing passwords, (b) using passwords that are not easily
guessed, and (c) locking workstations or logging out when leaving a computer unattended;
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editing, deleting or otherwise altering files within a shared directory or folder is permitted
only if the file in question relates directly to the user’s responsibilities;
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users may not install software to any local computer or a network drive. All software must
be installed by a district technology department employee;
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users may not move, repair, reconfigure, modify or attach external devices to the existing
system;
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each building within the district has designated technical assistants who are to be utilized
as the initial resource for any computer-based question or problem;
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computers, servers, or other devices not owned by the school district may not be
connected to the school district network unless the device has been tested and approved
by the Technology Manager;
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devices not owned by the district that are connected to the network, or used by as a
standalone device,
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will be monitored by district technology staff for network activities and content saved to the
device.
CONTINUED
4121(c)
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Information saved to the device and network activities are subject to the district’s
responsible and acceptable use policy and federal content filtering regulations.
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anyone who violates the established rules as described in this document may be denied
access to workstations and/or the network, and may be subject to legal action and/or
disciplinary measures;
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use of the network for the unauthorized transmission or storage of personal information
about students or employees that has the potential to be injurious is prohibited;
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the network user who willfully damages systems is responsible for all repair costs incurred
by the district;
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access by an authorized user to the district’s network from an off-site, non-workplace
location subjects the user to all rights and responsibilities listed in this document;
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use of the network for political lobbying is prohibited; and
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users must comply with all requests to discontinue activities that the technology manager
determines will threaten the operation of the network.
The District’s Responsibilities
The manager of technology and other technology administrators assume responsibility for
managing the network-related activities of students and employees. Those designated individuals
assume these responsibilities so the district’s technology systems can provide the computing
environment necessary for students and needed by employees to fulfill their responsibilities.
Listed below are the systems management responsibilities assumed by district technology staff
and designees network and Internet access is provided to all employees having need for such
access based on job responsibilities;
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access can be revoked at any time for suspected or verified non-compliance with any
section of this document;
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the superintendent may authorize appropriate district administrators to intercept and
monitor all network-based electronic communications including, but not limited to, e-mail
messages, file transfer and internet sites. The North Penn School District neither provides
nor implies the existence of individual privacy rights in electronic information transported
by the network or stored on servers or back-up systems;
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the district reserves the right to notify local, state and/or federal officials when it suspects
that individuals are using systems in violation of local, state or federal laws;
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a reasonable level of monitoring of student use of computers is expected of district
employees. Employees are expected to report suspected violations of the acceptable use
policy to an appropriate administrator;
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the district has installed security monitoring software that captures the Internet activity for
all students
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and staff, and has installed an appliance and software to archive all district electronic mail
for a period of seven years;
CONTINUED
4121(d)
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the district is not liable for damage to or loss of files due to system malfunction or
administrator error; and
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under the direction of the manager of technology, the technology department has the right
to monitor all accounts
for the purpose of ensuring that all systems remain operable and optimized for users;
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Specific Prohibitions
Any use of the network for activities that are illegal and/or inconsistent with the district’s mission
statement is prohibited. The specific prohibitions listed below have serious legal and/or
disciplinary implications. The district reserves the right to determine if any activity not listed below
as a prohibition constitutes an acceptable or unacceptable use of the network.
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specifically prohibited is a willful action that interferes with or threatens to disrupt the
normal operations of the network for its intended purpose or results in an inability to use or
gain access to the network. Examples of such action include, but are not limited to, the
introduction of viruses, use of damaged diskettes in disk-drives, dissemination of
electronic chain mail or non-work related broadcast messages; transferring copyrighted
materials on the district network without express consent of the owner of the copyright is a
violation of federal law and therefore prohibited;
use of electronic mail or other network-based communications to harass, defame, offend
or otherwise purposely annoy other network or Internet users is strictly forbidden. All users
have the responsibility of reporting such violations;
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use of the network to transfer software designed to compromise the operation or security
of the network is strictly forbidden as is any attempt to circumvent network security, guess
passwords or in any way gain unauthorized access to network servers or services;
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all users must recognize that e-mail messages and other information transferred by the
network may contain thoughts, conclusions and biased perceptions that were never
intended for publication. There may be liability for defamation for spreading false and
disparaging information about third parties, particularly comments on students, personnel
applicants, or individuals associated with the North Penn community. Such discussions
or use of the network is expressly prohibited;
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employees must remember that the connectivity offered by the internet has obscured the
demarcation between home and school. The use of the internet and the network from
non-work locations to disseminate content intended to harass, defame, offend, or
otherwise purposely annoy other community members is inconsistent with the district’s
mission statement and, therefore, strictly prohibited;
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illegal installation, distribution, reproduction or use of copyrighted software on district
systems is prohibited;
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misrepresentation (forgery) of the identity of a sender or source of electronic information is
prohibited;
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use of network resources for commercial gain or profit or advertising is not allowed from an
educational site and therefore prohibited;
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4121(e)
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use of the network and/or associated systems by unauthorized users is specifically
prohibited;
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use of the network to facilitate illegal activity is prohibited;
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plagiarism and intentional infringement of intellectual property rights is prohibited;
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unauthorized access, interference, possession, or distribution of confidential or private
information is prohibited;
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the network may not be used to send any school district information to any unauthorized
person; and
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the network may not be used to send unsolicited commercial e-mail messages, also
known as spam.
Web 2.0 Regulations
Twenty-first century changes to the Internet provide new tools for teaching and learning known as
Web 2.0 tools. These tools have changed the manner in which students and teachers utilize the
Internet requiring them to interact and/or publish to the web. Listed below are current Web 2.0
tools recognized for use for instruction, learning, and communication, and the regulations for their
use, by NPSD staff and students.
1. WIKI – Students and staff should use Wikis for purposeful activities that are aligned with
the curriculum. NPSD technology staff support the use of Wikispaces and the Wiki
function provided in Moodle or Schoolwires. Wikis should be password protected and all
student work should be reviewed by the teacher prior to publication.
2. Blog – Students and staff should use Blogs for purposeful activities that are aligned with
the curriculum. NPSD supports the use of the Blog function in Moodle, Schoolwires,
Kidblog, Blogger, and Blogspot. Blogs should be password protected and all student
work should be reviewed by the teacher before it is published online.
3. Student email will be available through NPSD Student Google Docs for purposeful
curriculum aligned activities. Students should use the district provided email application
that is filtered for inappropriate content and tone.
4. Skype will be available for purposeful curriculum aligned activities. Staff should contact
the technology department to activate an account. Google Docs is permitted for staff and
student use. NPSD staff should contact the technology department to activate an account.
5. Podcasting is permitted for student and staff use. Activities should be aligned to the
curriculum. Staff should contact the technology department to activate the appropriate
software.
6. RSS feeds are permitted for staff and student to use with purposeful curriculum aligned
activities or research. Staff should contact the technology department to setup an RSS
feed.
CONTINUED
4121(f)
7. Social networking sites are not permitted at this time with the exception of Edmodo, and
Keystone Commons. These sites may be used for purposeful curriculum aligned activities
or research.
8. Twitter is permitted for staff to use for communication with other staff or parents, or as part
of a professional development activity. Microblogs are not secure. Communication
should be appropriate and professional, and should not contain confidential student
information.
Adopted: December 11, 2008
Amended: September 2009
Amended: March 17, 2011
Amended: June 2013
Amended: July17, 2014
ADM REG 4121
7-17-14 srk