Maury County Public Schools

Computer and Network Guidelines

The Maury County School District may provide students and employees with access to the Internet, school

network, and other electronic resources to meet their school-related needs. Employees working with students will

help students develop the critical thinking skills necessary to discriminate among information resources, to identify

information appropriate to their age and developmental levels, and to evaluate and use information to meet

educational goals that are consistent with the district’s student learning outcomes. Students may have access to the

Internet ONLY with a teacher's permission, and ONLY for curricular needs. Access to the Internet through school

resources is a privilege, not a right, and may be revoked for inappropriate or unauthorized use as determined by

district authorities. All students are responsible for contacting teachers immediately if they discover or are aware of

inappropriate sites, or inappropriate or unauthorized use. There should be no expectation of privacy for activities

conducted on district-owned computers or the network; any and all use of these resources may be recorded and/or

reviewed by staff.

Unless specifically authorized, the district prohibits the following activities and any others determined to be

unacceptable uses of school system technology:

· Allowing another person to use an assigned account.

· Use of technology for non-work or non-school related communications.

· Use of technology to access obscene or pornographic material.

· Use of technology to transmit material likely to be offensive or objectionable to recipients.

· Use of technology to communicate through e-mail for non-educational purposes or activities.

· Use of technology to participate in inappropriate and/or objectionable discussions or newsgroups.

· Use of technology to disseminate hate mail, harassment, discriminatory remarks, or other antisocial

communication.

· Use of technology to plagiarize any information whether or not that results in a copyright violation.

· The illegal installation, distribution, reproduction or use of copyrighted software on district computers.

· Use of technology to intentionally obtain or modify files, passwords, or data belonging to any other users.

· Use of technology to misrepresent other users on the network.

· Use of technology for fraudulent copying, communications or modification of materials in violation of

local, state, and federal laws.

· Loading, downloading, or use of unauthorized games, programs, files or other electronic media, including

peer-to-peer applications used to download songs, movies, or software illegally.

· Installation of any computer or network device to the existing network.

· Malicious use of computers or the network to develop or distribute programs that harass other users,

infiltrate a computer system, and/or damage the software or components of a computer system.

· Destruction or theft of district hardware or software.

· Use of technology for instant messaging (online real-time conversations).

· Use of technology to facilitate any illegal activity.

· Use of technology for commercial or for-profit purposes.

· Use of technology for product advertisement or political lobbying.

· Use of technology to read another's mail or files without their consent.