Web Site Publishing Standards and Expectations

The availability of Internet access in M.S.A.D. #4 schools provides an opportunity for students and staff to contribute to the School District's presence on the World Wide Web. The District's Web sites provide information to the world about school curriculum, instruction, school-authorized activities, and other general information relating to our schools and our District's mission. Internet access for the creation of Web pages is provided by District media specialists and the District network specialist. Creators of Web pages need to familiarize themselves with and adhere to the following policies and responsibilities. Failure to follow these policies or responsibilities may result in the loss of authoring privileges or other more stringent disciplinary measures.

Subject Matter

All subject matter on Web pages should relate to curriculum, instruction, school-authorized activities, general information that is appropriate and of interest to others, or it should relate to the School District, or the schools within the District. Therefore, neither staff nor students may publish personal home pages as part of the District Web Sites. Staff or student work may be published only as it relates to a class project, course, or other school-related activity. All student web pages must be approved by a supervising teacher prior to publishing the web page on the Internet.

Quality

All Web page work must be free of spelling and grammatical errors. Documents may not contain objectionable material or point (link) directly to objectionable material. Objectionable material is defined as material that does not meet the standards for instructional resources specified in District policies. Regarding the question of quality or propriety of Web page material, appearance, or content, the judgment of the technology coordinator, building or district administrators will prevail.

Ownership and Retention

All Web pages on the District's server(s) are property of the School District. Web pages will be deleted when a student graduates or moves unless prior arrangements have been made with the technology coordinator.

Student Safeguards

• Web page documents may include only the first name and the initial of the student's last name.

• Documents may not include a student's email address, phone number, address, names of other family members, or names of friends.

• Published e-mail addresses are restricted to staff members or to a general group e-mail address where arriving e-mail is forwarded to a staff member.

• Decisions on publishing student pictures (video or still) and audio clips are based on the supervising teacher's judgment. The teacher must first check with the school office or the District office to determine if the student's parents/guardians have objected to such publication through the regular web site photo release process.

• Web page documents may not include any information which indicates the physical location of a student at a given time, other than attendance at a particular school, or participation in activities.

School Board Policies

All documents on M.S.A.D. #4 server(s) must conform to School Board Policies and regulations as well as established school guidelines. Persons developing or maintaining Web documents are responsible for complying with these and other policies. Some of the relevant issues and related Board Policies include the following:

• Electronic transmission of materials is a form of copying. As specified in District Policy, no unlawful copies of copyrighted materials may be knowingly produced or transmitted via the District's equipment, including its Web server(s).

• Documents created for the Web and linked to District Web pages will meet the criteria for use as an instructional resource.

• Any links to District Web pages that are not specifically curriculum-related will meet the criteria established in the District Internet Authorized Use Policy (AUP). Any other non-curricular materials should be limited to information about other youth activities, agencies, or organizations which are known to be non-sectarian, exclusively devoted to community interests or child welfare, are non-profit , and non-discriminatory. Web page links may not include entities whose primary purpose is commercial or political advertising.

• All communications via the District Web pages will comply with the District Internet Authorized Use Policy (AUP) and the District Code of Conduct Policy. Offensive behavior that is expressly prohibited by this policy includes religious, racial, and sexual harassment and/or violence.

• Any student information communicated via the District Web pages will comply with District policies on Data Privacy and Public Use of School Records.

• Any deliberate tampering with or misuse of District network services or equipment will be considered vandalism and will be handled in accordance with the District Internet Authorized Use Policy (AUP), the District Code of Conduct, and other related policies.

Technical Standards & Consistency

Each Web page added to the District Web site(s) must contain certain elements which will provide general consistency for District Web pages.

• At the bottom of the Web page, there must be an indication of the date of the last update to that page and the name or initials of the person(s) responsible for the page or update. It shall be that person's responsibility to keep the Web page current.

• At the bottom of the Web page, there must be a link that returns the user to the appropriate point(s) in the District Web pages.

• All student Web pages must be submitted to a supervising teacher or the technology coordinator for review and approval prior to uploading to the Web server.

• No computers other than the assigned building Web servers shall be configured as Web/FTP servers.

• The authorized teacher who is publishing the final Web page(s) for herself or himself, or for a student, will edit and test the page(s) for accuracy of links, and check for conformance with standards outlined in this policy.

• Web pages may not contain dead links.

• Web pages may not contain any student e-mail address links.

• Final decisions regarding access to active Web pages for editing content or organization will rest with the building principal, with input from the technology coordinator.

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