Cyber Safety

INTERNET ACCESS
Electronic information research skills are fundamental to the preparation of our students, our future citizens and employees. The acquisition of these technological tools puts an enormous power at the fingertips of all members of our community. As such, it also places a great deal of responsibility on all users. It is our aim to provide guidance and instruction to our students in the appropriate use of such resources.
As in other areas, our students are expected to make good choices with regard to their behavior on the Internet. Access will be provided for our students to conduct research and communicate with others under the supervision of their teacher.

Access to the Internet will enable students to explore thousands of libraries and databases throughout the world. We believe that the benefits to students from access to these forms of information resources and opportunities for collaboration exceed the disadvantages. But ultimately, you, as the parents and guardians of minors, are responsible for setting and conveying the standards that your children should follow when using media and information sources.

With these opportunities come some responsibilities and restrictions. Archbishop Borders School reserve the right to limit personal information about students, to edit Internet accounts for child-only configurations, and to run software, such as CyberPatrol. For their protection, students may not access Internet accounts provided by their families during school time because the school has no control over the configuration of those accounts.

Internet services are to be used in a responsible, efficient, ethical, and legal manner. Use of the Internet is a privilege, not a right. Failure to adhere to the following guidelines may result in a revocation of a student’s Internet access and disciplinary action up to and including suspension or expulsion.

All users of the network within the boundaries of Archbishop Borders School are responsible for adhering to the following guidelines.
• Acceptable uses of the Internet are activities that support learning and teaching.
• Unacceptable uses of the network include, but are not limited to:
• Violating the rights of privacy of others.
• Using profanity, obscenity, or other offensive language.
• Unauthorized copying of materials or installation of software.
• Revealing home phone numbers, addresses, or other personal information while using Internet resources.
• Downloading or copying information onto disks or hard drives without prior teacher approval.
• Accessing, downloading, storing, or printing files or messages that may be offensive to others.
• Sharing of passwords, if provided, or attempting to discover another’s password.
• The intentional writing, producing, generating copying or introducing of dangerous codes or programs designed to cause harm, including, but not limited to, viruses, bugs, “worms,” etc.
• Intentional damaging of or tampering with any hardware, software, printers, keyboards, mice, speakers, etc.
• Intentional erasing, renaming, or disabling of anyone else’s files or programs.
Archbishop Borders School is responsible for:
• Teaching students about these guidelines
• Supervising and guiding student access to the Internet.

 Ethical Use of Technology

The school is committed to Christian community, academic excellence, and lifelong learning. It is imperative that technological resources be used to build community, encourage critical reflection, and foster readiness for future learning. All developments in technology at the school are, therefore, meant to ensure broad access and to promote ethical, legal, and responsible use. This policy serves to define expected standards of behavior by all users of computers and networks within the school. Failure to adhere to this policy and guidelines herein will result in revocation of computer privileges, and possible disciplinary action up to and including suspension or expulsion.

In a spirit of cooperation, all employees and students are expected to adhere to the following standards in their use of computers and networks in the school.

• Respect and protect individual rights, as well as the well being of the school.
• Individual users are responsible for any activity on their computers and for materials stored therein.
• Computers are to be used exclusively for academic work and school related activities.
• Members of the school community will respect copyright laws and software licensing terms.
• Individuals may access only those files for which they have specific authorization. Searching through directories and folders without the owner’s permission is prohibited.
• All computer equipment and software is to be treated with respect.
• Only authorized personnel may alter equipment or equipment configurations.
• Use of technology for obscene, offensive, disruptive or threatening messages is prohibited.
• Network accounts are to be used only by those persons for whom the account has been established. Account users may not authorize anyone else to use their accounts.
• Individual account users must maintain adequate security for their accounts including frequent changing of passwords.
• Use of any program designed to breach network security, such as software designed to capture passwords or break encryption protocols, is prohibited. Use of any program designed to disrupt the performance of the network is likewise prohibited.
• All e-mail must clearly identify the sender of the message. Use of anonymous or pseudonymous communications over the network is prohibited. False information is prohibited.
• Students should avoid posting personal information via e-mail and responding to inappropriate messages.
• Use of the computer facilities to obtain, distribute or store inappropriate materials is prohibited. If material gathered from other media (books, magazines, TV, video) is unsuitable for the school environment, the same material brought in over the Internet is equally unsuitable.

E-mail: principal@abbschool.com