The following information is maintained by the NPS Instructional Service Center (ISC)

Internet and Computer Use by Employees

Norman Public Schools Web Site Use and Development Policy

Norman Public Schools Web Site Use And Development

Student Use of the Wide Area Network, the Internet, and Other Technological Resources

Policy Number 2993
WEB SITE USE AND DEVELOPMENT

The Norman Public School District encourages schools to create and maintain World Wide Web sites for educational purposes. Web sites are avenues for educating, providing information, communication and expressing creativity. District and individual school web sites shall be used to share information about school curriculum and instruction, school-authorized activities, and other information relating to our schools and our mission. Web sites shall also provide instructional resources for staff and students. Staff or student work may be published only as it relates to a class project, course, or other school-related activity. Students, staff or other individuals may not use the District's web pages to provide access to their personal pages on site servers, district servers, other servers or online services.

Materials displayed on web sites are published on the Internet. Therefore, the content shall be of professional quality and consistent with the education mission of the school system. Web sites shall follow standards for ethical behavior in regard to information and technology by showing respect for the principles of intellectual freedom, intellectual property rights and the responsible use of information and technology. Pages shall reflect an understanding that both internal and external audiences will be viewing the information.

Any sites or links representing the District shall contain disclaimers to follow State and Federal statutes, guidelines and responsibilities pertaining to content standards, student records, copyright and technical standards which are contained in the administrative regulations.

Any violation of this policy and/or other established regulation governing computer use may result in disciplinary action, up to and including termination. Illegal uses of computers may also result in referral to law enforcement authorities.

Due to the changing nature of technology and its applications in the District, the Board authorizes the Superintendent to develop regulations to fully administer this policy.

Adopted: 10/15/01

Subject: Web Site Use And Development
Regulation Number: 2993-1 Date of Issue: 11/01/01

I. PURPOSE

The intent in this regulation is to provide employees and other users with general requirements for web site use and development. More specific administrative procedures and rules governing web sites may supplement the regulation.

These rules provide general guidelines and examples of prohibited use and development of web sites, for illustrative purposes but do not attempt to state all required or prohibited activities by users. Employees who have questions regarding whether a particular activity or use is acceptable should seek further guidance from their site administrator/supervisor.

Failure to comply with the Board policy and/or other established regulation governing web site use and development may result in disciplinary action, up to and including termination. Illegal uses of computers may also result in referral to law enforcement authorities.

II. PERSONNEL AFFECTED
All employees

III. CONTENT STANDARDS
A. Subject Matter
1. All subject matter on District web pages and their links must relate to curriculum and instruction, school-authorized activities, or information about the District or its mission.
2. Web pages that contain staff or student opinion must contain a disclaimer that states " The opinions expressed on this page do not necessarily reflect those of the Norman Public School District."
3. Students, staff, or other individuals may not create links or publish the URL to their personal pages on other servers or online services.

Regulation 2993-1 (2)

4. Advertising for commercial purposes and/or products is prohibited.
5. Campaigning related to issues, individuals, and groups is prohibited.
6. Students are not allowed to upload web pages to the server. Pages created for teachers by students must comply with all policies, regulations and guidelines.

B. Quality
1. All work should be free of any spelling or grammatical errors.
2. Documents must not contain objectionable material, point directly to objectionable material, or violate District policy. Objectionable material may also be determined on a case-by-case basis by the teacher, building administrator/site supervisor.

C. Student Safeguards
1. Documents shall include only the first name of the student. An administrator may authorize the use of directory information, as defined by Oklahoma law.
2. Documents shall not include a student's home telephone number, address, email, or the full names of other family members or friends.
3. Published email addresses shall be restricted to those of staff members.
4. Pictures of students and students' academic or creative work shall not be published without permission from the student and parent or guardian.
5. Student data on District websites will be protected in accordance with Federal Regulations and State Statutes regarding student confidentiality.

Regulation 2993-1 (3)

IV. TECHNICAL STANDARDS
A. Consistency
1. At the bottom of every District web page there must be the date of the last page update, the NPS logo and the name of or an email link to the staff person responsible for the web page.
2. A disclaimer should be included at the bottom of the page that states, "We have made every reasonable attempt to insure that our web pages are educationally sound and do not contain links to materials that violate the District's Student Policy on Internet and Internet Safety for the Computer Network."

B. Usability
1. The web designer who is responsible for the web page will edit, test links and update the information on the web page.
2. Image files shall be jpeg or gif and include alt tags.
3. Pages may not contain links to other pages that are not yet completed.

V. RESPONSIBILITY
A. District Administrators/Site Supervisors
1. The District's web server is the property of the District, and all work published thereon must adhere to District policy.
2. District administrators will audit web sites for appropriateness.
3. The District reserves the right to remove any web pages that violate District policy.

B. School Administrators
1. The school principal should have personal knowledge of any web site at his/her school.

Regulation 2993-1 (4)

2. The principal should regularly visit the school web site and site staff web pages to check for appropriateness and legal issues such as copyright.

C. Site Webmaster
1. The site webmaster must keep his/her password secure to ensure that unauthorized persons are not able to upload or change the site web pages.
2. When the site Webmaster links to a teacher web page, he/she should check the content of the teacher's pages.

D. All employees
1. Responsible for the content of their web pages and for any student or volunteer's material used on their web pages.
2. Teachers and staff must use their own original material unless they have written permission or legal license to use other materials (this includes text, graphics, images, audio and video clips).
3. Unless there is a clear statement that material is "public domain" and available for free use, one should assume it is copyrighted.

Student Use of the Wide Area Network, the Internet, and Other Technological Resources

The Board of Education provides the wide area network, local area networks, Internet access, and other technological resources for the purpose of supporting and enhancing learning and teaching. The Board recognizes that guidelines must be established to assure that these technologies are used to provide activities which are appropriate to the learning environment. 

Some material accessible via the Internet may contain items that are illegal, defamatory, inaccurate or potentially offensive. The Board cannot guarantee that a student will not encounter questionable material on the Internet. 

Acceptable uses of the network and Internet are activities resulting from specific tasks and assignments which support learning and teaching and promote the district's mission and goals. 

Prohibited uses are those which violate an individual's right to privacy or access the materials, information or files of another individual or organization without permission; violate the copyright laws; spread computer viruses; deliberately attempt to vandalize, damage, disable or disrupt the property of the District, another individual, organization or the network; or any effort to locate, receive, transmit, store or print files or messages that are profane, obscene, sexually explicit or use language that is offensive or degrading to others. Use for commercial activities, product advertisement or political lobbying is also prohibited. 

The District is responsible for protecting its networks in a reasonable manner against unauthorized access and/or abuse, while making them accessible for authorized and legitimate users. This responsibility includes informing users of expected standards of conduct and the punitive measures for violating them. 

Before a student may access the Internet, written parental permission will be required. 

The Superintendent or designee shall be responsible for developing guidelines to govern the use of these technologies in the District. 

To remain eligible as users, student use must be in support of and consistent with the educational objectives of the District. Access is a privilege, not a right. Access requires responsibility. Students and all other users of the district's networks and other technological resources are responsible for respecting and adhering to local, state, federal and international laws and guidelines governing use of information and the available technologies. Any attempt to violate the guidelines, terms and conditions for use of technology, the network or the Internet may result in revocation of user privileges, other disciplinary actions consistent with Board of Education Policy and existing practice regarding inappropriate language or behavior including suspension from school, and/or appropriate legal action. 

The District makes no warranties of any kind, neither expressed nor implied, for the Internet access it is providing. The District will not be responsible for any damages users suffer, including but not limited to loss of data resulting from delays or interruptions in service; for the accuracy, nature or quality of information gathered through district-provided Internet access. 

The District will not be responsible for unauthorized financial obligations resulting from district-provided access to the Internet. 

Approved 6/17/96 

NORMAN PUBLIC SCHOOLS 

For a complete copy of the Norman Public Schools Acceptable Use of Technology see School Board Regulation Number 8797-1

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We have made every reasonable attempt to insure that our web pages are educationally sound and do not contain links
to materials that violate the District's Student Policy on Internet and Internet Safety for the Computer Network.

Last updated September 26, 2007
For information concerning this site contact: lnelson@norman.k12.ok.us

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