Harlingen Consolidated Independent School District - POLICY
ELECTRONIC COMMUNICATION AND DATA MANAGEMENT - CQ (LOCAL)
The Superintendent or designee shall implement, monitor, and evaluate electronic media resources for instructional and administrative purposes.
AVAILABILITY OF
ACCESS		 Access to the District's electronic communications system, including the Internet, shall be made available to students and employees primarily for instructional and administrative purposes and in accordance with administrative regulations. Limited personal use of the system shall be permitted if the use:
  1. Imposes no tangible cost on the District;
  2. Does not unduly burden the District's computer or network resources; and
  3. Has no adverse effect on an employee's job performance or on a student's academic performance.
USE BY THE
MEMBERS OF
THE PUBLIC		 Access to the District's electronic communications system, including the Internet, shall be made available to members of the public, in accordance with administrative regulations. Such use shall be permitted so long as the use:
  1. Imposes no measurable cost on the District; and
  2. Does not unduly burden the District's computer or network resources.
Members of the public who are granted access shall be required to comply with all District rules, regulations, and policies governing appropriate use of the system.
ACCEPTABLE USE The Superintendent or designee shall develop and implement administrative regulations, guidelines, and user agreements consistent with the purposes and mission of the District and with law and policy.

Access to the District's electronic communications system is a privilege, not a right. All users shall be required to acknowledge receipt and understanding of all administrative regulations governing use of the system and shall agree in writing to allow monitoring of their use and to comply with such regulations and guidelines. Noncompliance may result in suspension of access or termination of privileges and other disciplinary action consistent with District policies. [See DH, FN series, FO series, and the Student Code of Conduct] Violations of law may result in criminal prosecution as well as disciplinary action by the District.
INTERNET SAFETY The Superintendent or designee shall develop and implement an Internet safety plan to:
  1. Control students' access to inappropriate materials, as well as to materials that are harmful to minors;
  2. Ensure student safety and security when using electronic communications;
  3. Prevent unauthorized access, including hacking and other unlawful activities; and
  4. Restrict unauthorized disclosure, use, and dissemination of personally identifiable information regarding students.
FILTERING Each District computer with Internet access shall have a filtering device or software that blocks access to visual depictions that are obscene, pornographic, inappropriate for students, or harmful to minors, as defined by the federal Children's Internet Protection Act and as determined by the Superintendent or designee.

The Superintendent or designee shall enforce the use of such filtering devices. Upon approval from the Superintendent or designee, an administrator, supervisor, or other authorized person may disable the filtering device for bona fide research or other lawful purpose.
MONITORED USE Electronic mail transmissions and other use of the electronic communications system by students and employees shall not be considered private. Designated District staff shall be authorized to monitor such communication at any time to ensure appropriate use.
INTELLECTUAL
PROPERTY RIGHTS		 Students shall retain all rights to work they create using the District's electronic communications system.

As agents of the District, employees shall have limited rights to work they create using the District's electronic communications system. The District shall retain the right to use any product created in the scope of a person's employment even when the author is no longer an employee of the District.
DISCLAIMER OF
LIABILITY		 The District shall not be liable for users' inappropriate use of electronic communication resources or violations of copyright restrictions or other laws, users' mistakes or negligence, and costs incurred by users. The District shall not be responsible for ensuring the accuracy, age appropriateness, or usability of any information found on the Internet.



Harlingen Consolidated Independent School District - PROCEDURES
ELECTRONIC COMMUNICATION AND DATA MANAGEMENT - CQ
The Superintendent or designee will oversee the District's electronic communications system.

The District's system will be used only for administrative and educational purposes consistent with the District's mission and goals. Commercial use of the District's system is strictly prohibited.

The District will provide training to employees in proper use of the system and will provide all users with copies of acceptable use guidelines. All training in the use of the District's system will emphasize the ethical use of this resource.
CONSENT
REQUIREMENTS		 Copyrighted software or data may not be placed on any system connected to the District's system without permission from the holder of the copyright. Copies of software licenses must be kept by the Director of Instructional Technology for district standard software and operating systems. The principal or designee must keep copies of campus specific software licenses. Only the owner(s) or individual(s) the owner specifically authorizes may upload copyrighted material to the system. No original work created by any District student or employee will be posted on a web page under the District's control unless the District has received written consent from the student (and the student's parent) or employee who created the work. [See Exhibits A,B]

No personally identifiable information about a District student will be posted on a web page under the District's control unless the District has received written consent from the student's parent or legal guardian. [See Exhibit D]

The following specific guidelines will be used for posting student information without written permission from the student's parent:
  1. Student pictures will not be allowed where the student is identifiable. Exceptions to this are group pictures where the student's face is not identifiable. Wide-angle photographs of football games would be an example of this case.
  2. First and last names of District students will not be posted on a web page. First names may be used as long as the student is not identifiable outside the district. A student that has been recognized for outstanding academic achievement would be an example of this case. Information about the achievement along with the student's first name can be used. An exception may be made for "directory information" as allowed by the Family Education Records Privacy Act and District policy. [See CQ Policies at FL]
SYSTEM ACCESS Access to the District's electronic communications system will be governed as follows:
  1. As appropriate and with the written approval of the immediate supervisor, District employees will be granted access to the District's system.
  2. Students in all grade levels will be granted access to the District's system by their teachers, as appropriate.
  3. Principals or designees will keep accurate records of whether each student has completed an acceptable use form and has parental signatures.
  4. In order to ensure that only students with approved access use the District's electronic communications system, principals or designees will require each student to present proof of a signed and approved agreement for acceptable use of the electronic communications system. [See CQ Exhibit A] Proof of a signed and approved agreement is required.
  5. A teacher may apply for a class email account and in doing so will be ultimately responsible for use of the account.
  6. The District will require that all passwords be changed every 180 days for central processing system accounts.
  7. Student email accounts will be granted only where access is a part of the instructional objectives of the course. Written permission from the teacher will be required. Student email accounts will expire at the end of the course. The class teacher will be responsible for submitting a complete list of email user names and passwords to the District's Director of Instructional Technology.
  8. Any system user identified as a security risk or as having violated District and/or campus computer use guidelines may be denied access to the District's system.
  9. Internet access through the District's electronic communication system will not be granted to any user without appropriate filtering software in place on the computer or on the server.
DIRECTOR OF
INSTRUCTIONAL
TECHNOLGY
RESPONSIBILITIES		 The Director of Instructional Technology for the District's electronic communications system (or campus designee) will:
  1. Be responsible for disseminating and enforcing applicable District policies and acceptable use guidelines for the District's electronic communication systems.
  2. Ensure that all users of the District's system complete and sign an agreement to abide by District policies and administrative regulations regarding such use. All such agreements will be maintained on file in the principal's or supervisor's office.
  3. Ensure that employees supervising students who use the District's system provide training emphasizing the appropriate use of this resource.
  4. Ensure that all software loaded on computers in the District is consistent with District standards and is properly licensed. Random software audits will be performed.
  5. Be authorized to monitor or examine all system activities, including electronic mail transmissions, as deemed appropriate to ensure proper use of the system.
  6. Be authorized to establish a retention schedule for messages on any electronic bulletin board and to remove messages posted locally that are deemed to be inappropriate.
  7. Set limits for data storage within the District's system, as needed.
  8. Be responsible for monitoring signed release forms. Any web page found without the appropriate release will be deleted and disciplinary action will be taken.
INDIVIDUAL USER
RESPONSIBILITIES		 The following standards will apply to all users of the District's electronic information/communications systems:
ON-LINE
CONDUCT
  1. The individual in whose name a system account is issued will be responsible at all times for its proper use.
  2. The system may not be used for illegal purposes, in support of illegal activities, or for any other activity prohibited by District policy or guidelines.
  3. System users may not use another person's system account without written permission from the campus administrator or Director of Instructional Technology, as appropriate.
  4. Students may not distribute personal information about themselves or others by means of the electronic communication system.
  5. System users must purge electronic mail in accordance with established retention guidelines.
  6. System users may not redistribute copyrighted programs or data except with the written permission of the copyright holder or designee. Such permission must be specified in the document or must be obtained directly from the copyright holder or designee in accordance with applicable copyright laws, District policy, and administrative regulations.
  7. System users may download public domain programs for their own use or may noncommercially redistribute a public domain program. System users are responsible for determining whether a program is in the public domain.
  8. System users may not send or post messages that are abusive, obscene, sexually oriented, threatening, harassing, damaging to another's reputation, or illegal.
  9. System users may not purposefully access materials that are abusive, obscene, sexually oriented, threatening, harassing, damaging to another's reputation, or illegal.
  10. System users should be mindful that use of school-related electronic mail addresses might cause some recipients or other readers of that mail to assume they represent the District or school, whether or not that was the user's intention.
  11. System users may not waste District resources related to the electronic communications system. Email and attachments will be limited to 2MB of space on the server. Email, attachments, or other files placed on the server that exceed this limit will be deleted.
  12. System users may not gain unauthorized access to resources or information.
  13. Students will use accepted guidelines for citing information gathered from the Internet. Plagiarism will not be tolerated.
VANDALISM
PROHIBITED		 Any malicious attempt to harm or destroy District equipment or data or data of another user of the District's system, or any of the agencies or other networks that are connected to the Internet is prohibited. Deliberate attempts to degrade or disrupt system performance are violations of District policy and administrative regulations and may constitute criminal activity under applicable state and federal laws. Such prohibited activity includes, but is not limited to, the uploading or creating of computer viruses.

Vandalism as defined above will result in the cancellation of system use privileges and will require system restoration, as well as other appropriate consequences. [See DH, FN series, FO series, and the Student Code of Conduct]
FORGERY
PROHIBITED 		Forgery or attempted forgery of electronic mail messages is prohibited. Attempts to read, delete, copy, or modify the electronic mail of other system users, deliberate interference with the ability of other system users to send/receive electronic mail, or the use of another person's user ID and/or password is prohibited.
INFORMATION
CONTENT/
THIRD-PARTY
SUPPLIED
INFORMATION		 System users and parents of students with access to the District's system should be aware that use of the system may provide access to other electronic communications systems in the global electronic network that may contain inaccurate and/or objectionable material.

A student who gains access to such material is expected to discontinue the access as quickly as possible and to report the incident to the supervising teacher.

A student knowingly bringing prohibited materials into the school's electronic environment will be subject to suspension of access and/ or revocation of privileges on the District's system and will be subject to disciplinary action in accordance with the Student Code of Conduct.

An employee knowingly bringing prohibited materials into the school's electronic environment will be subject to disciplinary action in accordance with District policies. [See DH]
PARTICIPATION IN
CHAT ROOMS AND
NEWSGROUPS		 Participation in chat rooms and newsgroups accessed on the Internet is permissible, under appropriate supervision, and for employees.
DEVELOPMENT OF
WEB PAGES		 Development and posting of web pages on the District's electronic communication system is permissible under the following guidelines:
  1. Each campus will designate one trained person that will upload web pages.
  2. Web pages posted on the Internet from each campus must first have the principal's approval.
  3. All web pages must include a navigational button or hypertext link back to the HCISD homepage.
  4. Pictures and other files will be limited to 60K or less. Any request to exceed this limit must include a written explanation to the Director of Instructional Technology.
  5. File Transfer Protocol (FTP) accounts may be set up to allow transfer of files to the District servers. Requests for FTP accounts must go to the Director of Instructional Technology.
  6. Web pages must be updated every six months.
  7. Commercial advertising will not be allowed on any district web page.
  8. Web pages will not contain any personally identifiable information including student pictures and/or full names without a signed release form from the student's parent or legal guardian [See Exhibit D]. The campus principal or designee will be responsible for obtaining a signed release form prior to uploading the web page.
  9. The Director of Instructional Technology will be responsible for monitoring signed release forms. Any web page found without the appropriate release will be deleted and disciplinary action will be taken.
  10. Students will not be allowed to upload information to the District's communication system.
  11. Web page development will be allowed by students as part of an instructional program or promotion of campus activities. In this case, a teacher will supervise the development.
  12. District employees will be allowed to develop personal web pages on the Internet for the purpose of sharing information with the Harlingen and educational community. Personal web pages will not be used for promoting commercial business. Personal web pages will be forwarded to the Director of Instructional Technology for approval and uploading.
NETWORK
ETIQUETTE		 System users are expected to observe the following network etiquette:
  1. Be polite; messages typed in capital letters are the computer equivalent of shouting and are considered rude.
  2. Use appropriate language; swearing, vulgarity, ethnic or racial slurs, and any other inflammatory language are prohibited.
  3. Pretending to be someone else when sending/receiving messages is considered inappropriate.
  4. Transmitting obscene messages or pictures is prohibited.
  5. Using the network in such a way that would disrupt the use of the network by other users is prohibited.
TERMINATION/
REVOCATION OF
SYSTEM USER
ACCOUNT		 Termination of an employee's or a student's access for violation of District policies or regulations will be effective on the date the principal or District coordinator receives notice of student withdrawal or of revocation of system privileges, or on a future date if so specified in the notice.
DISCLAIMER The District's system is provided on an "as is, as available basis". The District does not make any warranties, whether express or implied, including, without limitation, those of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose with respect to any services provided by the system and any information or software contained therein. The District does not warrant that the functions or services performed by, or that the information or software contained on the system will meet the system user's requirements, or that the system will be uninterrupted or error free, or that defects will be corrected.

Opinions, advice, services, and all other information expressed by system users, information providers, service providers, or other third-party individuals in the system are those of the providers and not the District.

The District will cooperate fully with local, state, or federal officials in any investigation concerning or relating to misuse of the District's electronic communications system.



Harlingen Consolidated Independent School District - EXHIBITS
ELECTRONIC COMMUNICATION AND DATA MANAGEMENT
The following forms will be used by the District regarding the use of its electronic communications system:
  • Exhibit A: Secondary Student Agreement for Acceptable Use of the Electronic Communications System and for Display of Original Work - 2 pages
    Elementary Student Agreement for Acceptable Use of the Electronic Communication System and for Display of Original Work - 2 pages
  • Exhibit B: Employee Agreement for Acceptable Use of the Electronic Communications System and for Display of Original Work - 2 pages
  • Exhibit C: Agreement for Acceptable Use of the Electronic Communications System by a Non-school User and for Display of Original Work - 2 pages
  • Exhibit D: Release Form for the Electronic Display of Personal Information - 1 page


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