The St. Martin Parish School District offers Internet access for student use. This document is the Acceptable Use Policy for student use of the Internet. This Internet system has been established for a limited educational purpose to include classroom activities, career development, and limited high‑quality, self‑discovery activities. It has not been established as a public access or public forum.  The St. Martin Parish School Board has the right to place reasonable restrictions on the material accessed or posted, require the training needed before a student is allowed to use the system, and enforce all rules set forth in the school code and the laws of the state. Further, students may not use this system for commercial purposes to offer, provide, or purchase products or services through the system or use the system for political lobbying. Access to the Internet is available through school only with permission of the principal or his or her designee and the student’s parent(s)/guardian(s).  Access to technology is a privilege accorded to students who agree, along with their parents/guardian, to abide by the Acceptable Use Policy.  Students found in violation of this policy may have these privileges revoked along with other suitable penalties in accordance with the St. Martin Parish School System Discipline Policy.

 What is possible?

 Access to the Internet will enable students to explore thousands of libraries, databases, museums, and other repositories of information.  Families should be aware that the school and District web sites may contain links that are maintained and controlled by third parties.  Because some material accessible via the Internet may contain items that are illegal, defamatory, inaccurate, or potentially offensive, District personnel will make every effort to filter, screen, and research links for appropriateness.  St. Martin Parish School District is not responsible for the content in the linked site, any link contained within the linked site, or any changes or update to the linked site that changes its appropriateness. 

 We believe that the benefits to students from access to the Internet in the form of information resources and opportunities for collaboration exceed the disadvantages.  Ultimately, parents and guardians of minors are responsible for setting and conveying the standards that their children should follow when using media and information sources. Therefore, we support and respect each family's right to decide whether or not to allow access.

 What is expected?

 It is expected that users will comply with District standards and the specific rules set forth below.  Students are responsible for appropriate behavior on the school's computer network just as they are in a classroom or on a school playground.  Communications on the network are often public in nature.  General school rules for behavior and communications apply.  The user is personally responsible for his/her actions in accessing and utilizing the school's computer resources.  The students are advised never to access, keep, or send anything that they would not want their parents/guardian or teachers to see. The use of the network is a privilege, not a right, and may be revoked if abused. 

What are the rules? 

Privacy ‑‑ Network and/or computer storage areas are like school lockers.  The computer equipment is school property.  Network administrators may access and review communications to maintain system integrity and insure that students are using the system responsibly.

•  The student will not post personal or private contact information about self or others.  Personal contact information may include, but not limited to, social security number, home address, home phone number, personal email address, etc.  This also includes photographs of oneself and others, as well as student work.
• While accessing the St. Martin Parish School District’s computer system, the student will not agree to meet with someone they have met online.
• The student  will promptly disclose to the teacher or other school employee any message received that is inappropriate or makes the student feel uncomfortable.

 Illegal Activities

• The student should never download or install any commercial software, shareware, or freeware onto network drives or disks, unless given written permission from the Network Administrator.  All copyright laws must be adhered to. The student should never make illegal copies of copyrighted software, nor illegally load copyrighted software on computers that are not licensed specifically for that software.
• The student will adhere to all copyright laws.  Violations include, but are not limited to, copying or reproducing work that is protected by a copyright,  files/documents created by others, and copyrighted multimedia content such as music and video clips accessed through MP3, Wave, software via Morpheus, Napster, Kazaa, itunes, etc.
• The  student will not attempt to gain unauthorized access to the St. Martin Parish School District’s computer system (i.e. Forum, PC Link, Intranet, online lesson plan management system, etc.) or to any other computer system via the District’s computer system or go beyond the 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".
• The student will not make deliberate attempts to disrupt the computer system’s performance, destroy data by spreading computer viruses or by any other means.  This includes the destruction and vandalism of computer equipment and its components. 
• The student will not use the system to engage in any other illegal act, such as arranging for a drug sale or the purchase of alcohol, engaging in criminal gang activity, participating in virtual games that mimic illegal activities, or threatening the safety of others, etc.
• The student will not pursue or otherwise access information on weapons and the manufacture or purchase of weapons for purposes other than assigned class research.
• The student will not use the District’s computer system for personal acquisitions such as shopping, trading stocks, any form of financial gain unrelated to the mission of the school district, personal entertainment, and on-line gambling.
• The student will not use the District computer system to play non-educational, student-initiated games. 
• The student will not use the school district’s computer system to conduct plagiarism.  Plagiarism is using another person’s ideas or writings and presenting them as one’s own.

• The student will not use obscene, profane, lewd, vulgar, rude, inflammatory, threatening, abusive, impolite, disrespectful, or  sexually explicit language to communicate.  Materials which are not in line with the rules of school behavior should not be accessed.  Should students encounter such material by accident, they should report it to their teacher immediately and turn off the monitor.
• The school district’s computer system is considered a limited forum, similar to the school newspaper, therefore the district may restrict speech for valid educational reasons.
• Restrictions against inappropriate language apply to public messages, private messages, and material posted on Web pages.
• The student will not access, post, distribute, or store materials using language that is inappropriate to the educational setting or disruptive to the educational process. 
• The student will not engage in personal attacks, including prejudicial or discriminatory attacks.
• The student will not harass another person.  Harassment is persistently acting in a manner that distresses or annoys another person.  When requested by another to stop communication in the form of messages, e-mail, or other means of electronic contact, the student will do so immediately.
• The student will not knowingly or recklessly post false or defamatory information about a person or organization.
• The student will not use his/her access to review, upload, download, store, print, post, or distribute materials that:
  • are pornographic, obscene or sexually explicit;
  • use language or images to advocate violence or discrimination towards other people (hate literature);  A special exception may be made for hate literature if the purpose of access is to conduct educational research and both the teacher and parent have approved.
  • contain images of individuals engaged in any illegal act or violate any local, state, or federal statute/law.

• Students may not access personal email accounts at school. 
• Students are not allowed to have email accounts through the St. Martin Parish School District’s computer system.
• Students will only be allowed to set up and use a district-approved, teacher-monitored, safe, school email account (i.e. gaggle.net).  Students must have permission from parent(s)/guardian(s), teacher, and school administrator in order to open an email account.   
  • Students are not allowed to correspond with others beyond restrictions set by the teacher.
  • The teacher will have full access to the student’s email account and can access, filter, and control incoming mail.
  • Students will not be able to receive unsolicited email (i.e. junk mail, spam).

• The student will use the St. Martin Parish School District’s Computer system only for educational and career development activities and limited, high-quality, self-discovery activities.
• The student will not download files and/or stream music.
• The student will not post chain letters or engage in “spamming.”  Spamming is sending an annoying or unnecessary message to a large number of people.

• Users of the school district’s computers, network, and Internet are held personally responsible for actions in accessing and utilizing available resources.  Depending on the nature and degree of the violation and the number of previous violations, unacceptable use of the school district’s computer system or the Internet may result in one or more of the following consequences:

         1.      Suspension or cancellation of use and access privileges;