Descriptor Term Descriptor Code Issued Date

IFAD-R 11/20/97
Internet Use Procedures
for Students
Rescinds Issued



In order to support the curriculum and the informational needs of all students, the Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools provide a wide variety of materials representing a broad range of opinions and ideas and presented in many formats. In keeping with this goal, the district provides Internet access to students and staff.

This document outlines acceptable and unacceptable uses of Internet access. By signing the Unsupervised Internet Access form, parents are permitting their middle and high school students to have unsupervised access to the Internet.

All CHCCS students have access to the Internet. Supervised access to the Internet is defined as access to the Internet when a CHCCS staff member either is present with the students or has provided an Internet related assignment for students to complete. Examples of supervised access include all classroom settings with a staff member present, computer labs with a staff member present, and media centers when a staff member or trained volunteer is circulating or otherwise monitoring student use of the Internet. Unsupervised access is defined as student access without a specific assignment when an adult cannot continuously be present, for example, in the media center when students are present without teachers and other staff are not available to monitor Internet use.

Student access to the Internet will be for educational purposes, to complete assignments and research. While Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools personnel will make every effort to monitor student use of the Internet, monitoring the Internet itself is not possible, nor is it possible to monitor students every minute that they are on the Internet. Middle and high school students may have unsupervised access to the Internet if parental permission is on record.

Acceptable Use
CHCCS requires that students make use of the Internet in an acceptable manner. "Acceptable use" means that Internet access may only be used for educational purposes that are consistent with the objectives of the Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools, such as to learn about or complete assignments. Internet use must comply with the rules established by the Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools, as well as with any state or federal laws or regulations. In addition, a user who accesses another organization's network or computing resources must comply with the rules and procedures of that network.

Responsibilities of User
All Internet users must use Internet access in a responsible manner. This includes, but is not limited to, the following:

Use Internet access for educational purposes in a manner that is consistent with acceptable use as described above.



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Be polite. Do not get abusive in your messages to others.
Use appropriate language. Do not curse, use vulgarities or use any other language that is inappropriate and inconsistent with the student code of conduct.
Keep your password and other personal information private. Do not share your password with other persons, including fellow students. Do not inappropriately give out your name, address or phone number; your school's name, address or phone number; or others' name, address or phone number.
Use information and equipment in a careful and responsible manner.

Limits of Use
In addition to the above responsibilities, the User may not use Internet access to do the following:

Send, receive or display restricted material (see below);
Use obscene language;
Use the network for commercial profit or gain;
Inappropriately use copyrighted materials (see Use of Copyrighted Materials below);
Intentionally harm or destroy data and/or equipment by introducing a digital virus, damaging operating system files or files not belonging to you or physically damaging equipment (see Destruction of Property );
Intentionally waste network resources (i.e. "chain letters" or "spamming");
Gain access to private data or equipment;
Intentionally harass, attack, or insult others (see Restricted Material and Harassment or Attacking Others );
Discuss, access, or commit illegal activities;
Access information that has a cost involved - the student will be responsible for such cost.

Restricted Material
Students shall not intentionally access, send, receive or download any file or engage in any conference that includes material which:

  1. is obscene, libelous, indecent, vulgar, profane or lewd.

  2. advertises any product or service not permitted to minors by law or school policy and regulations.

  3. constitutes insulting or fighting words, the very expression of which injures or harasses others; or presents a clear and present likelihood that, either because of its content or the manner of distribution, it will cause a material and substantial disruption of the proper and orderly operation, discipline of the school or school activities, will cause the commission of unlawful acts or will cause the violation of lawful school regulations.

Consequences of unacceptable behavior
All violations of these procedures will result in the immediate loss of network access privileges, parent contact and any consequences spelled out in each school's code of conduct. However, the following may also

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apply:

  1. Destruction of Property
    If unacceptable use includes destruction of property (network hardware, software or data), then a fine for equipment, software, and/or labor to repair the damage may be assessed. CHCCS may also file charges with law enforcement officials if damage is determined to be malicious.

  2. Harassment or Attacking Others
    Unacceptable use involving harassment can also result in charges being brought by the person being harassed - particularly if that person is out of state or not a member of CHCCS. CHCCS does not control whether charges are filed in these cases.

  3. Use of Copyrighted Materials
    Much of the information on the Internet may be subject to a copyright privilege or licensing agreement that, among other things, prohibits copying and distributing the material. Users should assume that all communications and information accessed on the Internet is private property subject to copyright protection. The duplication of software is specifically prohibited by this regulation and is a violation of the law. Other material accessed on the Internet may be reproduced for "fair use." Fair use allows copyrighted materials to be reproduced for limited purposes such as teaching or research. Reproduction beyond fair use needs the permission of the copyright holder. A good rule is to reproduce/photocopy materials only for your own personal use - not to be distributed to others. Violations of copyright law could result in liabilities and excessive monetary penalties. If a student is found to have violated copyright law, the student, not the school, will be held liable for such violation.

Confidentiality of Information on the Internet
Network storage areas will be treated like school lockers. Network administrators may review files and communications to maintain system integrity and insure that users are using the system responsibly and according to these procedures. Users should not expect that information on district servers will always be private.

Users should also recognize that information on the Internet, including e-mail, is not private. Companies with home pages can record when the site is accessed and identify the users by tracing the modem and phone numbers used. As a result, students should not send messages containing personal or private information about themselves or others.

CHCCS will not be providing privileged information about students on the Internet, whether on the district web site or on individual school sites. Personally identifiable information about a student cannot be released on the
Internet.

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No Warranties or Guarantees on Service
The Chapel Hill-Carrboro City School Board makes no warranties of any kind, whether expressed or implied, for the service it is providing. The Board will not be responsible for any damages users suffer. This includes loss of data resulting from delays, nondeliveries, misdeliveries, or service interruptions caused by the Board's or the users' negligence, errors or omissions. Use of any information obtained via the Internet is at the user's risk. The Board specifically denies any responsibility for the accuracy or quality of information obtained through its Internet access services.



Established: May 1995 Last Modified: May 13, 1998
To No-Nonsense Net-Learning   Suggestions to Seawell Web Ms.
© 1998 Seawell Elementary School