Educational Purpose
Internet access has been established for a limited educational purpose and shall be consistent with the district’s curriculum and Sunshine State Standards. The term “educational purpose” includes academic activities, career development, and limited high quality self-discovery activities. Access has not been established as a public service or a public forum.
Orange County Public Schools (OCPS) has the right to place reasonable restrictions on the material accessed or posted through the system. Students are expected to follow the rules set forth in the Code of Student Conduct and the law in the use of the Internet and network resources.
Students may not use the Internet for commercial purposes. This means they may not offer, provide, or purchase products or services through the Internet at any school using any district resource.
Student Internet Access
E-mail is an electronic mail system, which allows students to communicate one-to-one with people throughout the world. Students may have e-mail or chat access only under their teacher’s direct supervision for specific instructional purposes as designated by the school. Only specific authorized e-mail access will be permitted by the District as required by the Children’s Internet Protection Act (CIPA). Students may not establish web e-mail accounts through the district’s Internet access. All students will have access to Internet World Wide Web information resources through the classroom, media center, or
computer lab.
If approved by administrators, students may contribute to a school web page. All content must be pre-approved by the appropriate staff.
Unacceptable Uses
The following uses of OCPS Internet access are considered unacceptable:
1. Personal Safety
Students will not post personal contact information about themselves or other people. Personal contact information includes address, telephone, school address, work address, etc. This information may not be provided to an individual, organization, or company,
including web sites that solicit personal information. Students shall promptly disclose to a teacher any messages received that are inappropriate or make them feel uncomfortable.
2. Illegal Activities
Students shall not attempt to gain unauthorized access to the OCPS network or to any other computer system through the Internet or go beyond authorized access. This includes attempting to log in through another person’s account or access another person’s files.
These actions are illegal, even if only for the purposes of “browsing.” Students shall not make deliberate attempts to disrupt the computer system or destroy data by spreading computer viruses or by any other means. These actions are illegal [F.S. 815 Computer-Related Crimes]. Students shall not use the OCPS network to engage in any illegal act, such as arranging for a drug sale or the purchase of alcohol, engaging in criminal gang activity, threatening the safety of persons, etc.
3. System Security
Students are responsible for individual network access and must take all reasonable precautions to prevent access by others. Under no conditions should a student provide passwords to another person. Students will immediately notify a teacher or the school’s
technology coordinator if a possible security problem has been identified. Any attempt to look or scan for security problems will be construed as an illegal attempt to gain access. Students shall avoid the inadvertent spread of computer viruses by following the District
virus protection procedures if software has been downloaded. Under no circumstances are students permitted to use a workstation to gain access to student grades or other private student records. Students shall not load unauthorized software on computers or on file servers. Students will not use any equipment or software to bypass, destruct, modify or abuse OCPS network access or disrupt the network activities of others. Any
student identified as a security risk or having a history of problems with computer and/or network access may be denied authorization. Student-owned hardware will not be permitted to connect to the OCPS network unless written permission is granted by the school
principal. Appropriate antivirus software and security software must be activated before network use.
4. Inappropriate Language
Restrictions against inappropriate language apply to public messages, private messages, and material posted on web pages. Students will not use obscene, profane, lewd, vulgar, rude, threatening, or disrespectful language. Students will not harass another person. Harassment is persistently acting in a manner that distresses or annoys another person. If a student is told by a person to stop sending messages, he or she must stop. Students will not knowingly or recklessly post false or defamatory information about a person or organization. Students will not repost a message that was sent to them privately without permission of the person who sent the original message. Students shall not post private information about another person.
Respecting Resource Limits
Students shall use the system only for educational and career development activities and limited, high-quality, self- discovery activities. Students shall not download files larger than 3 MB unless absolutely necessary. If necessary, download the file at a time when the
system is not being heavily used. Students will check e-mail frequently, delete unwanted messages promptly, and stay within the established e-mail quota. Students shall
not post chain letters or engage in “spamming.” Spamming is sending an annoying or unnecessary message to a large number of people. Developed with the assistance of the Responsible Netizen Center for Advanced Technology in Education, University of Oregon
Plagiarism and Copyright
Students shall not plagiarize works that you find on the Internet. Plagiarism is taking the ideas or writings of others and presenting them as if they were yours. Students shall respect the rights of copyright owners. Copyright infringement occurs when a work that is protected by a copyright is inappropriately reproduced. If a work contains language that specifies appropriate use of that work, students shall follow the expressed requirements. Students should request permission from the copyright owner.
Inappropriate Access
In accordance with the Children’s Internet Protection Act (CIPA), all OCPS web access is filtered; however, this does not preclude the possibility that inappropriate sites are not blocked. Do not use OCPS Internet to access material that is profane or obscene
(pornography), that advocates illegal acts, or that advocates violence or discrimination towards other people (hate literature). A special exception may be made if the purpose of access is to conduct research with instructor and district approval. Students shall immediately notify a teacher if inappropriate information is mistakenly accessed. This will protect students against a claim of intentional violation of this policy. Parents or guardians should instruct their students if there is additional material that they think it would be inappropriate to access. OCPS fully expects that the student will follow his or her parent’s instructions in this matter.