NYC
BOE INTERNET ACCEPTABLE USE POLICY (EXCERPT)
For full policy please open pdf. NYCBOE/ IAUP
A.
GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF ACCESS
1)
The Board of Education of the City of New York (the “Board") is obtaining access
to the Internet, including access to e-mail, for its employees, board members,
students, and guests. Guests include but are not limited to parents, substitute
teachers, temporary Board employees, parent volunteers, and other school
volunteers.
2)
Internet access and the use of e-mail through the use of the Board's system, has
a limited educational purpose. The term "educational purpose" includes use of
the system by students and their parents for learning activities both in school
and at home,
Employee
professional or career development, communication between teachers, students and
their parents and the facilitation of information sharing between teachers and
administrators throughout the New York City school system. If any user has a
question whether their Internet use is consistent with the Board’ s educational
purpose,
goals,
and mission, s/he should consult with the appropriate supervisor, principal,
teacher, etc. This Internet Acceptable Use Policy governs all electronic
activity,
including
e-mail and access to the Internet, which is undertaken by Board of Education
employees, students, and parents/guardians either in their official Board of
Education capacity or as part of the educational, instructional or
extracurricular programs connected to the Board. No Board of Education employee,
student, or parent/guardian may engage in activities prohibited by this IAUP,
whether through the Board's Internet service or through another Internet Service
Provider, when those activities are undertaken either in their official Board of
Education capacity or as part of the educational, instructional, or
extracurricular programs of the Board of Education.
As
with other curricular offerings and tools, parents do not have a general right
to opt their child out of classroom use of the Internet. As set forth more fully
below however, parental consent is required with respect to certain aspects of
Internet use (e.g., posting a child’ s photograph on a school web page). Parents
moreover, are strongly encouraged to discuss and monitor their child’ s Internet
school use and to discuss any issues or concerns that they may have with the
school’ s teacher and administrators.
3)
Student access to the Internet will be governed by this policy, related Board
regulations, and the Citywide Standards of Conduct and Uniform Disciplinary
Measures ("the student disciplinary code"). Employee use will be governed by
this policy, related Board regulations, Board employment policy, and applicable
collective bargaining agreements. All use will be in compliance with the
acceptable use provisions of the Internet service
provider.
4)
The Board reserves the right to terminate any user’ s access to the Internet,
including access to e-mail, at any time and for any reason. The Board reserves
the right to monitor all Internet access, including all e-mail, through use of
the Board’ s system. The Board specifically reserves the right to revoke access
and/or take other appropriate
disciplinary
action, with respect to any user who violates this policy.
D.
FILTERING
The
Board has installed Internet filtering software in an attempt to block user
access to
Inappropriate
and/or harmful text on the Internet. The software works by scanning
web
site
addresses, web site content, e-mail and other documents for objectionable words
or
concepts.
Objectionable words and concepts are pre-determined by the Board. When the
software finds any such objectionable words or concepts, it denies the user
access to them based on the level of access assigned to the word or concept by
the Board.
Generally,
levels of access go from the least restrictive level, which allows users access
to the web site or document that contains the word or concept, to the most
restrictive level, which denies users access to the web site or document that
contains the word or concept. There
are levels between these two levels that neither automatically allow or
automatically deny access but rather, prompts the software to perform a more
in-depth review of the web site or document to determine whether it is
objectionable (e.g., for high school students, the word or concept “breast”
would fall into this intermediate level so a student who is doing research on
breast cancer would be allowed access to web sites or documents related to
“breasts” but a student looking for pornography would be denied access to
pornography related to “breasts.” Filtering technology is not perfect and
therefore, may in effect interfere with legitimate educational research. The default level of access that will be
granted to students varies depending on grade level and are referenced in
subsections a, b, and c below. Each district shall establish a process for
modifying the filter or for de-filtering Internet access for students when it is
educationally appropriate. The district process must indicate whether
de-filtering requests are to be approved at the district or school level and
appropriate monitoring mechanisms must be established by the district. No
filtering software is one hundred percent effective and it is possible that the
software could fail. In the event that the filtering software is unsuccessful
and children gain access to inappropriate and/or harmful material, the Board
will not be liable.
a)
Default filtering levels for grades Kindergarten through 5: The filter is set at
the most restrictive setting in restricting access to Internet sites that may
contain interactive chat
or
mail or information regarding:
-
crime
-
intolerance
-
violence
-
sex acts
-
sex attire
-
sex/nudity
-
sex/personal
-
basic sex education
-
advanced sex education
-
sexuality
-
sports
b)
Default filtering levels for grades 6 through 8: Same setting as K through 5
above.
E. REGULATIONS OF
ACCESS
1)
Review of Access Privileges
a)
The
Board will cooperate fully with local, state, or federal officials in any lawful
investigation concerning or relating to any illegal activities conducted through
the Board system.
b)
The
Board may revoke Internet access in its sole discretion. If a student’ s access
is revoked, the Board will ensure that the student nonetheless continues to have
a meaningful opportunity to participate in the educational
program.
c)
Student disciplinary actions should be tailored to meet specific concerns
related to the violation and to assist the student in gaining the
self-discipline necessary to behave appropriately on an electronic network. If
the alleged violation also involves a violation of other provisions of the
student disciplinary code, the violation will be handled in accordance with the
applicable provision of the code.
d)
Employee violations of the Board Internet Acceptable Use Policy will be handled
by appropriate discipline.
2)
Privacy
a)
The Board reserves the right to use “cookies” on its site. Cookies are computer
programs that allow the Board, among other things, to verify whether a visitor
is an authorized user of the Board’ s system and that store information about a
user on a computer hard drive or disk. Information stored includes, but may not
be limited to, the date and time a user visits the site and information about
the user’ s activities while online. Any information gathered is obtained solely
for the purpose of improving the Board’ s services and providing the system with
statistical information to assist in improving teaching and learning by teachers
and students respectively. Except
as otherwise provided in this Internet Acceptable Use Policy, the Board will not
use cookies to gather personal identifying information about any of its users.
Personal identifying information includes, but is not limited to, names, home
addresses, e-mail addresses and telephone numbers.
b)
As required by the Children’ s Internet Protection Act (“CIPA”), the Board will
monitor students’ online activities. Such monitoring may lead to discovery that
the user has violated or may be violating, the Board Internet Acceptable Use
Policy, the student disciplinary code, or the law. The Board also reserves the
right to monitor other users (e.g., non-students) online
activities.
c)
The Board reserves the right to employ and review the results of software that
searches, monitors and/or identifies potential violations of the Internet
Acceptable Use Policy.
d)
Users should be aware that their personal files may be discoverable in court and
administrative proceedings and in accordance with public records
laws.
e)
System users have no privacy expectation in the contents of their personal files
and records of their online activity while on the Board
system.
7)
Limitations on Internet Usage
A) Personal Safety
Violations for Students
i)
Student
users will not post or transmit photographs or personal contact information
about themselves or other people without prior written parental consent from the
parent of the student whose information is being posted. Such consent must be
delivered to the child’ s teacher or principal. Personal contact information
includes, but is not limited to, home address, telephone number, school name,
school address and classroom.
ii)
Student users will not agree to meet with someone they have met online without
their parent's approval and participation.
iii)
Student users will promptly disclose to their teacher or other school employee
any message they receive that is inappropriate or makes them feel
uncomfortable.
B) Illegal
Activities
i)
Users shall not attempt to gain unauthorized access to the Board system or to
any other computer system through the Board system, or go beyond their
authorized access. This prohibition includes intentionally seeking information
about passwords belonging to other users, modifying passwords belonging to other
users, or attempting to log in through another person's account. Further, users
may not attempt to access, copy, or modify another user’ s files. These actions
are not permitted and may be illegal, even if only for the purposes of
"browsing.”
ii)
Users shall not attempt to subvert network security, impair the functionality of
the network or bypass restrictions set by network administrators. Users are also
prohibited from destroying data by spreading computer viruses or vandalizing
data, software or equipment.
iii)
Users shall not use the Board system to engage in any other illegal act, such as
arranging for a drug sale, purchasing alcohol for a minor, engaging in criminal
gang activity, threatening the safety of a person, etc.
C) System Security
Violations
i)
Users are responsible for the use of their individual account if applicable and
should take all reasonable precautions to prevent others from being able to use
their account. Under no conditions should a user provide their password to
another person, except that supervisors and/or teachers may require users to
provide their passwords.
ii)
Student users will immediately notify a teacher if they identify a possible
security problem (such as disclosure of their password to another person) and
other users will immediately notify the system administrator. No users will go
looking for security problems, because this may be construed as an illegal
attempt to gain access.
iii) Every school must install and
maintain anti-virus software on each workstation. Updates, typically referred to
as "virus definitions," should be updated as the manufacturer
recommends.
D) Inappropriate
Language
i)
Restrictions against inappropriate language apply to public messages, private
messages, and material posted on Web pages.
ii)
Users will not use obscene, profane, lewd, vulgar, rude, inflammatory,
threatening, abusive or disrespectful language.
iii)
Users
will not post information that could interfere with the educational process or
cause a danger of disruption in the educational
environment.
iv)
Users
will not engage in personal attacks, including prejudicial or discriminatory
attacks.
v)
Users
will not harass another person. Harassment is persistently acting in a manner
that distresses or annoys another person. If a user is told by a person to stop
sending
them
messages, they must stop. However, nothing in this paragraph shall prohibit
supervisory use of e-mail in connection with Board activities and
employment.
vi)
Users will not knowingly or recklessly post false or defamatory information
about a person or organization.
vii)
Users should not re-post a message that was sent to them privately without
permission of the person who sent them the message.
viii)
Users should not post private information about another person.