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.