The availability of Internet access in Houston County schools provides an opportunity for students and staff to contribute to the school system's presence on the World Wide Web. The system's Web sites provide information to the world about school curriculum, instruction, school-authorized activities, and other general information relating to Houston County schools and the system's mission. Internet access for the creation of Web pages is provided by system administrators and each building principal or the professional staff member designated by the principal. Creators of Web pages should familiarize themselves with and adhere to the system policies and procedures. Failure to follow these policies or procedures may result in the loss of authoring privileges or other more stringent disciplinary measures.

Content Standards

Building and district administrators, with input from appropriate professional staff, are responsible for Web page approval.

Subject Matter

All subject matter on Web pages should relate to curriculum, instruction, school-authorized activities, general information that is appropriate and of interest to others, or it should relate to the school system, or the schools within the system. Therefore, neither staff nor students may publish personal home pages as part of the Houston County School System Web Sites, or home pages for other individuals or organizations not directly affiliated with the school system. Staff or student work may be published only as it relates to a class project, course, or other school-related activity.

Quality

All Web page work must be free of spelling and grammatical errors. Documents may not contain objectionable material or point (link) directly to objectionable material. Objectionable material is defined as material that does not meet the standards for instructional resources specified in school system policies. Regarding the question of quality or propriety of Web page materials, appearance, or content, the judgment of the building principal or district administrators will prevail.

Ownership and Retention

All Web pages on the Houston County School System's server(s) are property of the school system and any material thereon will be retained at the discretion of the school system.

Student/Staff Safeguards

1. Web page documents may include only the first name and the initial of the student's last name. Exception: Students' first and last names may be used when publishing lists for recognition of academic and/or extracurricular/cocurricular achievement or other honors--e.g., Honor Roll, Citizen of the Month, etc. No other personally identifiable information may be included. (See No. 2, below.)

2. Documents may not include a student's phone number, address, names of other family members, or names of friends.

3. Published e-mail addresses are restricted to staff members or to a general group e-mail address where arriving e-mail is forwarded to a staff member.

4. Pictures (video and/or still) or audio clips of adults may be published with permission. No student picture may be published, with the exception of group pictures, in which case students may not be listed by name or otherwise individually identified.

5. Web page documents may not include any information which indicates the physical location of a student at a given time, other than attendance at a particular school, or participation in activities.

School Board Policies

All documents on Houston County School System Websites must conform to Houston County Board of Education policies and regulations as well as established school guidelines. Copies of Board policies are available in all school offices. Persons developing or maintaining Web documents are responsible for complying with these and other policies. Some of the relevant issues and related Board policies include the following:

1. Electronic transmission of materials is a form of copying. No unlawful copies of copyrighted materials, including graphics, may be knowingly produced or transmitted via the system's equipment, including its Web server(s).

2. Documents created for the Web and linked to system Web pages will meet all criteria for use as an instructional resource.

3. Any links to system Web pages that are not specifically curriculum-related will meet the criteria established in the system's Internet Acceptable Use Policy (AUP). Web page links may not include entities whose primary purpose is commercial or political advertising.

4. All communications via the system's Web pages will comply with the system's Internet Acceptable Use Policy (AUP). Offensive behavior that is expressly prohibited by this policy includes, but is not limited to, religious, racial, and sexual harassment and/or violence.

5. Any student information communicated via the system's Web pages will comply with Houston Couty School System policies regarding privacy and public use of school records.

6. Any deliberate tampering with or misuse of system network services or equipment will be considered vandalism and will be handled in accordance with the Internet Acceptable Use Policy (AUP), system policies, and applicable statutes.

Technical Standards

Consistency

Each Web page added to the Houston County School System's Web site(s) should contain certain elements which will provide general consistency for system Web pages and shall follow procedures and specifications established by the system technology committee.

1. No computers in Houston County Schools, other than the assigned building Web servers, shall be configured as Web/FTP servers.

2. The authorized teacher who is publishing the final Web page(s) for herself or himself, or for a student, will edit and test the page(s) for accuracy of links and check for conformance with standards outlined in this policy.

3. Web pages may not contain any student e-mail address links, any survey-response links, or any other type of direct-response links.

4. Final decisions regarding access to active Web pages for editing content or organization will rest with the building principal, with input from the media specialist and/or the professional development specialists.

Other

Given the rapid change in technology, some of the technical standards outlined in this policy may require change throughout the year. Such changes will be made by the system's network specialist with approval of the Superintendent. This Web Page Policy will be updated on an annual basis, or more frequently if required.

ADOPTED: 2/10/98

HOUSTON COUNTY SCHOOL SYSTEM

Perry, Georgia

Home to Northside

Last updated: February 23, 1999

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