I. NETWORK CONDUCT

A. The individual in whose name a system account is issued is responsible at all times for its proper use. The district's system shall be used for all educational purposes consistent with the district's mission and goals. The district reserves the right to inspect files to assure compliance.

B. Teachers are responsible for teaching and supervising proper techniques and standards for participation, for guiding student access to appropriate sections of the Internet, and for assuring that students understand that if they misuse the network they will lose their privilege to access the network in the school environment. Paraprofessionals and other support employees will monitor and report inappropriate behavior.

C. System users will not evade, change or exceed resource quotas or disk usage quotas or disk usage quotas as set by the network manager. A user who remains in noncompliance may have their files removed. Such quotas may be exceeded only by permission of the network manager. 

II. USER ACCOUNT INFORMATION

A. User account information will be maintained in accordance with applicable education records law and district policy and administrative regulations.

B. All employees, including substitute teachers and temporary employees, will be issued network accounts for the duration of their employment.

C. All students will be issued network accounts for the duration of their enrollment.

D. The district will provide access to the system through the establishment of a system account. The system account is established by the issuance of authorized and unique passwords for each user. This account will include a personal folder/subdirectory. The use of this password constitutes acceptance of the account and an agreement by the user to abide by the following rules of conduct and assume responsibility for the content of the folder/subdirectory. Continual age appropriate training on appropriate use of Moorhead Public Schools Electronic Network shall be provided for each user.

E. The school district system has a limited educational purpose, which includes use of the system for classroom activities, educational research, and professional and career development activities. Users are expected to use network and Internet access through the district system to further educational and personal goals consistent with the mission of the school district and school policies. Uses which might be acceptable on a user's private personal account on another system may not be acceptable on this limited-purpose network.

III. UNACCEPTABLE USES

A. The following uses of the school district system and Internet resources or accounts are considered unacceptable:

1. Users will not use the school district system to access, review, upload, download, store, print, receive, transmit or distribute:

a. pornographic, obscene or sexually explicit material or other visual depictions that are harmful to minors;

b. obscene, abusive, profane, lewd, vulgar, rude, inflammatory, threatening, disrespectful, or sexually explicit language;

c. materials that use language or images that are inappropriate in the education setting or disruptive to the educational process;

d. information or materials that could cause damage or danger of disruption to the educational process;

e. materials that use language or images that advocate violence or discrimination toward other people (for example: hate literature) or that may constitute harassment or discrimination except in the course of the instructional program under the supervision of a teacher.

2. Users will not use the school district system to gain unauthorized access to information resources or to access another persons materials, information or files without the direct permission of that person.

3. Users will not write to system accounts other than their own as identified and issued by the district.

4. Users will not attempt to gain unauthorized access to the school district system or any other system through the school district system, attempt to log in through another person's account, or use computer accounts, access codes or network identification other than those assigned to the user. Messages and records on the school district system may not be encrypted without the permission of appropriate school authorities.

5. Users will not use the school district system to knowingly or recklessly post, transmit or distribute false or defamatory information about a person or organization, or to harass another person, or to engage in personal attacks, including prejudicial or discriminatory attacks.

6. Users will not use the school district system to engage in any illegal act or violate any local, state or federal statute or law.

7. Users will not use the school district system to vandalize, damage or disable the property of another person or organization, will not make deliberate attempts to degrade or disrupt equipment, software or system performance by spreading computer viruses or by any other means, will not tamper with, modify or change the school district system software, hardware or wiring or take any action to violate the school district's security system, and will not use the school district system in such a way as to disrupt the use of the system by other users.

8. Users will not use the school district system to post private information about another person, personal contact information about themselves or other persons, or other personally identifiable information, including, but not limited to, addresses, telephone numbers, school addresses, work addresses, identification numbers, account numbers, access codes or passwords, labeled photographs or other information that would make the individual's identity easily traceable, and will not repost a message that was sent to the user privately without permission of the person who sent the message.

9. Users will not use the school district system to violate copyright laws or usage licensing agreements, or otherwise to use another person's property without the persons prior approval or proper citation, including the downloading or exchanging of pirated software or copying software to or from any school computer, and will not plagiarize works they find on the Internet.

10. Users will not use the school district system for conducting business, for unauthorized commercial purposes or for financial gain unrelated to the mission of the school district. Users will not use the school district system to offer or provide goods or services or for product advertisement. Users will not use the school district system to purchase goods or services for personal use without authorization from the appropriate school district official.

IV. INTERNET CONTENT FILTER

A. With respect to any of its computers with Internet access, the school district will monitor the online activities of minors and adults. The school district will employ technology protection measures during any use of such computers by minors and adults. The technology protection measures utilized will block or filter Internet access to any visual depictions that are:

1. Obscene;

2. Child pornography; or

3. Harmful to minors.

B. The term "harmful to minors" means any picture, image, graphic image file, or other visual depiction that:

1. Taken as a whole and with respect to minors, appeals to a prurient interest in nudity, sex, or excretion; or

2. Depicts, describes, or represents, in a patently offensive way with respect to what is suitable for minors, an actual or simulated sexual act or sexual contact, actual or simulated normal or perverted sexual acts, or a lewd exhibition of the genitals; and

3. Taken as a whole, lacks serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value as to minors.

C. An administrator, supervisor or other person authorized by the Superintendent may disable the technology protection measure, during use by an adult, to enable access for bona fide research or other lawful purposes.

V. USER EDUCATION

A. All users shall be notified of the school district policies relating to Internet use.

B. This notification/training shall include the following:

1. Notification that Internet use is subject to compliance with school district policies.

2. Disclaimers limiting the school district's liability relative to:

a) Information stored on school district media.

b) Information retrieved through school district computers, networks or online resources.

c) Personal property used to access school district computers, networks or online resources.

d) Unauthorized financial obligations resulting from use of school district resources/accounts to access the Internet.

3. A description of the privacy rights and limitations of school sponsored/managed Internet accounts.

4. Notification that, even though the school district may use technical means to limit students Internet access, these limits do not provide a foolproof means for enforcing the provisions of this acceptable use policy.

5. Notification that goods and services can be purchased over the Internet that could potentially result in unwanted financial obligations and that any financial obligation incurred by the user through the Internet is the sole responsibility of the student and/or the student's parents.

6. Notification that the collection, creation, reception, maintenance, and dissemination of data via the Internet, including electronic communications, is governed by Moorhead School Board Policy 414: Employee Public and Private Personnel Data, and Moorhead School Board Policy 504: Protection and Privacy of Student Records.

7. Notification that, should the user violate the school district's acceptable use policy, the user's access privileges may be revoked, school disciplinary action may be taken and /or appropriate legal action may be taken.

8. Notification that all provisions of the acceptable use policy are subordinate to local, state and federal laws.

VI. PARENT/GUARDIAN RESPONSIBILITY; NOTIFICATION OF STUDENT INTERNET USE

A. Outside of school, parents/guardians bear responsibility for the same guidance of Internet use as they exercise with information sources such as television, telephones, radio, movies and other possibly offensive media.  Parents/guardians are responsible for monitoring their students use of the school district system and of the Internet if the student is accessing the school district system from home or a remote location.

B. Parents/guardians should understand that their students will be using school district resources/accounts to access the Internet and that the school district will provide parents/guardians the option to request alternative activities not requiring Internet access.  Parent/guardian options include:

1. Overview of training provided to the student user.

2. Description of parent/guardian responsibilities.

3. A notification that the parents/guardians have the option to request alternative educational activities not requiring Internet access and the material to exercise this option.

4. Statement that the school district's acceptable use policy is available for parental review.

VII. TERMINATION/REVOCATION OF SYSTEM USER ACCOUNT

A. A guest user's account may be established to accomplish specific educational training or tasks by the network manager or designee.  These accounts will be terminated upon completion of the educational training task.  Termination may take place without notice given to the guest system user.

B. The district may suspend or revoke a system user's access to the district's system upon any violation of district policy and/or administrative regulation according to the following guidelines:

1. Violations considered minor would include violation of computer lab rules, going to an inappropriate site, harassing e-mail, etc.

a) Consequences will be determined by building administrators in collaboration with teachers and district administration in accordance with building behavior policies.

2. Violations considered major would include impersonating school officials, obtaining e-mail accounts through misrepresentation, life-threatening e-mail, accessing accounts or folders of others, etc.  

a) Consequences will be determined by building administrators in collaboration with teachers and district administrators in accordance with district behavior policies.  Consequences may include legal prosecution and suspension or expulsion in accordance with district policies.

b) Prior to a suspension or revocation of system service or as soon as practicable, the building administrator will inform the system user of the suspected violation and give the system user an opportunity to present an explanation.  If the decision of the building administrator is to suspend or revoke network privileges, Administrative Procedure 731.3 will be completed.

VIII. USE OF E-MAIL SYSTEMS

A. All employees have access to an e-mail account provided by the district.  E-mail sent and received over this system is subject to the Open Records Laws of Minnesota, the confidentialities provided for in the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) and other local, state or federal laws that may apply.

B.  Student e-mail accounts will be provided by the district.  Access to these accounts will require registration and verification of student status and agreement to appropriate use of the account.

C. The district reserves the right to require termination of individual accounts if used for inappropriate purposes as defined in this policy.

D. It is the responsibility of system users to save e-mail correspondence they wish to retain in their personal folders.

IX. PUBLICATION OF MATERIALS ON THE NETWORK

A. General Responsibility/Liability

1. The publisher (Moorhead Area Public Schools) assumes general liability for the content of material.  As such, the publisher retains the right to control the content of the publication.

2. The creator (employees, students and parent support groups) is obligated to observe copyright (refer to Moorhead School Board Policy 730: School District Copyright Policy) and other rights to intellectual property. The creator is required to provide the publisher with evidence of compliance with intellectual property rights involved in the creation.

B. Classrooms, Activities, Departments & Building Webpages

1. Publication of classrooms, departments, buildings or any other organizational elements of the district are considered to be publications of the Moorhead Area Public Schools.  As such, the district has a right to control the content. Exercising this right may include deletion of these materials from these publications as well as other editorial rights.

2. Publications containing information about classrooms, departments, buildings or any other organizational elements of the district must reside on the servers of Moorhead Area Public Schools or their approved agents.

3. The creator of these publications is responsible for observing copyright and other intellectual property rights. The publisher at its sole discretion, may refuse to publish such material if compliance with intellectual property rights is suspect, if the publisher suspects publication of such material will jeopardize the confidentiality of staff or student information or for any other reason the publisher (Moorhead Area Public Schools) deems appropriate.

4. The creator is responsible for the appropriateness of all links to other sites on the Internet.

5. Links contained may not include links to a personal (staff or student) Web page.

6. All materials included in the publication must be appropriate as defined in other sections of this document.

X. INFORMATION CONTENT/THIRD PARTY SUPPLIED INFORMATION

A. System users and parents/guardians of system users are advised that the use of the district's system may provide access to other electronic communication systems that may contain inaccurate and/or objectionable material. The district does not condone the use of objectionable materials. Such materials are prohibited in the school environment. Parents/guardians of students with accounts on the district's system should be aware of the existence of such materials and monitor their student's home usage of the district's resources accordingly.

B. Students knowingly bringing prohibited materials into the school environment may be subject to suspension and/or revocation of their privileges on the district's system and will be subject to discipline in accordance with the district's policy and applicable administrative regulations.

C. Staff knowingly bringing prohibited materials into the school will be subject to disciplinary action in accordance with district policy and contractual agreements for discipline and dismissal.

D. 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 information providers and not the district.

XI. LIMITED EXPECTATION OF PRIVACY

A. By authorizing use of the school district system, the school district does not relinquish control over materials on the system or contained in files on the system. Users should expect only limited privacy in the contents of personal files on the school district system.

B. Routine maintenance and monitoring of the school district system may lead to a discovery that a user has violated this policy, another school district policy, or the law.

C. An individual investigation or search will be conducted if school activities have a reasonable suspicion that the search will uncover a violation of law or school district policy.

D. Parents have the right at any time to investigate or review the contents of their child's files and e-mail files. Parents have the right to request the termination of their child's individual account at any time.

E. All users should be aware that the school district retains the right at any time to investigate or review the contents of their files and e-mail files. In addition, users should be aware that data and other materials in files maintained on the school district system may be subject to review, disclosure or discovery under Minn. Stat. Ch. 13 (the Minnesota Government Data Practices Act).

F. The school district will cooperate fully with local, state and federal authorities in any investigation concerning or related to any illegal activities or activities not in compliance with school district policies conducted through the school district system.

XII. LIMITATION OF SCHOOL DISTRICT LIABILITY

Use of the school district system is at the user's own risk.  The system is provided on an "as is, as available" basis.  The school district will not be responsible for any damage users may suffer, including, but not limited to, loss, damage or unavailability of data stored on school district media or for delays or changes in or interruptions of service or misdeliveries or nondeliveries of information or materials, regardless of the cause.  The school district is not responsible for the accuracy or quality of any advice or information obtained through or stored on the school district system.  The school district will not be responsible for financial obligations arising through unauthorized use of the school district system or the Internet.

XIII. CONSISTENCY WITH OTHER SCHOOL POLICIES

Use of the school district computer system and use of the Internet shall be consistent with school district policies and the mission of the school district.