Berrien County Schools Acceptable Use Agreement - Employees
Please read the following carefully. Violations of the Employee Acceptable Use Agreement might result in revocation of employee's access privileges, disciplinary action by the School Board up to and including employment termination, and/or referral to law enforcement authorities or to the Georgia Professional Standards Commission.
Technology is an integral part of the learning experiences in the Berrien County Schools (BCS) system. Students will use these resources to acquire knowledge, to seek, evaluate, and create information, and to communicate and collaborate with others. Similarly, teachers and administrators must model the responsible use of technology for these same purposes of acquiring, creating, evaluating, and sharing information. This Employee Acceptable Use Policy specifies the expectations for responsible use of technology for all Berrien County Schools employees, including guidelines for communicating electronically.
Expectations for employee use of system technology for instruction:
A. Teachers have access to a wide variety of digital resources for use in instruction and must use sound professional judgment in determining what materials are appropriate for their students. Any materials being displayed to students (for example, YouTube videos) must be carefully reviewed in their entirety and must be related to instructional objectives.
B. The Berrien County School System observes copyright law. Teachers should model the use of personally created, public domain, or other licensed images in presentations and should expect their students to similarly credit and use images and information with integrity and in compliance with copyright law.
C. When guiding students through research, teachers should provide instruction on and model the use of a variety of resources and effective search strategies to locate information. Teachers should incorporate into instruction lessons on how to evaluate accuracy, relevance, bias, and credibility of sources of information, including how to cite sources correctly.
D. Staff must be aware that students have access to the Internet from all of the school system's computers. Teachers must use good judgment and supervise their students’ use of the Internet. The school system uses filtering software to help prevent student access to inappropriate websites; however, it is impossible to block access to all objectionable material. While the student is responsible for not seeking or initiating access to inappropriate material, teachers must set clear expectations for appropriate use and monitor their students.
E. Instructional staff should not allow students to use computers or computer labs unsupervised.
F. Teachers should leave substitute teachers with specific instructions about what students may and may not do when using the classroom computers during your absence.
G. All staff will maintain the confidentiality of student records and information by keeping their own account credentials secure and by not posting lists of student usernames and passwords where all students can see them.
H. Student pictures may be posted on district, school, or teacher websites, provided parents have not withheld permission. Pursuant to the Berrien County School System Student/Parent Handbook, images of students may not be published on the internet if the parent has filed a written objection within ten days of enrollment. School administrators shall inform teachers of any student for whom this permission has been withheld. Teachers should generally avoid identifying students by name on teacher or school web pages, but with the permission of the building level administrator, students may be recognized by name for their achievements.
I. Teachers shall enforce the BCS Student Acceptable Use Agreement while supervising students. It is the employee's responsibility to notify the school administrator of any violation of the Acceptable Use Agreement.
Expectations for employee use of system technology resources:
A. Any individual who is issued a password is required to keep it private and is not permitted to share it with anyone for any reason. Be careful when entering your username and password to make sure no one can see (and steal) your login information. Never allow a student to log in with a staff member's username and password or to use a computer logged in with a staff member’s credentials. With a teacher’s username and password, the student would potentially have access to emails, private documents in home directories, and grades.
B. Passwords should be “strong” with a mix of letters, numbers, upper and lowercase, and special characters. Avoid using easily guessed words as passwords. Do not leave passwords lying on your desk or in an unlocked drawer.
C. Employees shall not use school system computers or the school district network for illegal activity, such as copying or downloading copyrighted software, music, or images, or for other violations of copyright laws. Peer-to-peer, file-sharing, and/or torrenting software (a file using the BitTorrent protocol) may not be installed on a school system computer or laptop.
D. Email accounts are provided to employees for professional purposes. While using the district's e-mail, users should conduct themselves appropriately and in a manner befitting an employee of the Berrien County School System. This includes word choices, tone, grammar, and subject matter that model the standards and integrity of a Berrien County Schools professional.
E. School system email accounts shall not be used for personal gain or to promote personal business activities.
F. Broadcasting of unsolicited messages is prohibited. Examples of such unsolicited messages include chain letters, religious or political solicitations, virus hoaxes, and “joke” emails.
G. BCS has established staff email distribution lists for each campus. Employees may send school-related email messages to the staff list for their assigned campus, but employees may not send non-school related emails unless approved by the principal. If an employee has an email of interest to the system, the employee must send it to his or her principal for review. If the principal deems the message appropriate, the principal will forward the message to the superintendent for consent prior to distribution.
H. Users are responsible for the appropriate storage and backup of their data. When an employee leaves, he/she will
have 5 days from the last working day to secure and download data. Any data lost will not be the responsibility of
Berrien County Schools. Once an account has been removed, all data in Google drives are deleted after 20 days by Google.
I. Employees are responsible for ensuring that any computers or computing devices, CDs, memory sticks, USB flash drives, or other forms of storage media that they bring in from outside the school are virus free and do not contain any unauthorized or inappropriate files.
J. Employees shall not install software on a school system computer unless licensed and specifically authorized. Software requests should be presented to the principal of the school.
K. Employees shall not use school system computers for any commercial purpose, such as operating a home business or creating items for sale.
L. Employees may connect a personally-owned device to the school or school system network or wireless network, and all access must be in accordance with this Acceptable Use Agreement. Use of any personally-owned technology on the premises of the Berrien County Schools System—including smartphones, tablets, laptops—must be in compliance with this Employee Acceptable Use Agreement.
M. Users will not use Berrien County School System technology to access inappropriate material on the Internet, including (but not limited to) abusive, obscene or sexually-oriented material, or hate speech. It is the user's responsibility to avoid initiating access to inappropriate material when using the Internet. Any accidental access to inappropriate material should be reported immediately to the user's supervisor. Employees who repeatedly access, or attempt to access, inappropriate sites, (specifically pornographic sites), will be subject to disciplinary action up to, and including termination. Deliberate violations of this nature that occur in a classroom setting will result in immediate termination.
N. The district realizes that from time to time the user may make incidental personal use of the Berrien County School System technology resources. Such use may not consume more than a trivial amount of technology resources and cannot interfere with employee productivity or with the supervision of students. In addition, such use may not preempt any legitimate activity of the district, nor may it violate any portion of this use and implementation regulation.
O. All employees, instructional and non-instructional, must conform to the Expectations for Communicating Electronically in their use of any electronic resource for communicating with students and/or their parents.
Instructional Programs:
A program is any instructional software, whether installed on a mobile device, computer, or network server or accessed over the Internet. Apps and web-based programs must be reviewed and approved prior to purchase or use if the programs are used for ongoing instruction or require creation of student accounts, regardless of cost or funding source.
Monitoring:
Employees should have no expectation of privacy in their use of and storage on the Berrien County School System network or on any online storage solution provided by the school system. Any access on the school system network, including internet browsing and use of electronic mail, is subject to monitoring and may be visible through routine maintenance. By using the district's technology and network, the user consents to routine monitoring and maintenance of the district's technology performed in the ordinary course of business to maintain security and integrity of the network. Monitoring and maintenance may lead to the discovery that a user is violating this use policy and implementing regulation, other Berrien County School System’s policies, or the law. Such violations will be reported and appropriate action taken.
Monitoring by the technology department of a specific employee’s use of technology may also occur upon the instruction of the superintendent. The district reserves the right to search archives of employees’ email messages and to review any materials or assignments stored or created on the school district's computer systems with or without the user present and without the permission from individual users. Such mandated examination or review will be conducted by a member of the technology department.
Expectations for Communicating Electronically
Berrien County Schools (BCS) recognizes that today’s students and parents use public social media networks such as Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook to communicate with friends, family, and their larger social networks. These forms of communications may, in some circumstances, not meet the public and professional standards for communicating in an education environment.
BCS has adopted these Expectations for Communicating Electronically to provide direction for employees when participating in online activities. By accessing, creating, or contributing to any online discussions, blogs, wikis, or social media for classroom or district use, you agree to abide by these expectations. Please read them carefully before creating or participating in any online communication intended for classroom, school, or district use.
All employees must adhere to the Georgia Code of Ethics for Educators.
http://www.gapsc.com/Rules/Current/Ethics/505-6-.01.pdf .
The expectations outlined in this document are designed for the purpose of protecting the students, staff, and the school system and raising awareness of acceptable ways to use electronic communication tools when communicating with students and parents. All members of the BCS professional community will adhere to the following expectations when communicating with students and parents electronically.
Electronic communication with students and parents should always be Transparent, Accessible, and
Professional, as defined below:
The communication is transparent. – ALL electronic communication between staff, students and parents should be transparent. As a public school district, we are expected to maintain openness, visibility, and accountability with regard to all communications.
The communication is accessible. - ALL electronic communication between staff, students and parents are a matter of public record and/or should be accessible by others.
The communication is professional. – ALL electronic communication from staff to
a student or parent should be written as a professional representing BCS. This includes word choices, tone, grammar, and subject matter that model the standards and integrity of a BCS professional. Always choose words that are courteous, conscientious, and generally businesslike in manner.
Acceptable Communications Methods
PowerSchool -Teachers can use PowerSchool to communicate directly to parents regarding real-time grades, attendance, comments, and assignments from their gradebooks.
District Email - Use of district email is always an appropriate way to communicate directly with students and parents. Only the district-provided email system (your @Berrien.k12.ga.us address) should be used for communication with students and parents and for any-school-related communication.
Remind or any other group messaging system that preserves a history of sent messages.
GSuite for Education applications, including Google Classroom, Google Meet, and any other system-provided communication tools. Through these services, teachers can maintain an online presence for their classrooms with the ability to post information, calendars, photo galleries, blogs, podcasts, discussion boards, and more. Content must be transparent, accessible, and professional.
Unacceptable Communications Methods
Non-District Email Accounts – BCS employees should never use personal email accounts to communicate with students.
Text Messaging - Staff members should be aware that text messaging between a staff member and an individual student can easily be misinterpreted by a parent or by the student. Records of such text messaging are not preserved or easily accessible. With available options such as Remind, there is no reason for any staff member to text a BCS student. Likewise, any other unapproved messaging service, such as should not be used as a means to communicate between teacher and student.
Sending private messages or direct messages to students within social networks (such as Facebook, Twitter, SnapChat, etc.) is unacceptable.
Online Games and Related Activities – While many people enjoy a variety of gaming systems (Wii, Xbox, etc.) and recreational websites that allow them to compete with others through the Internet, this is not an acceptable activity for staff members to knowingly engage in with students.
Social Media Guidance
School administrators are encouraged to engage with their school’s stakeholders by establishing an official social media presence using sites such as Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. These official accounts will be designated with logos and language to maintain the branding of the schools and the system.
When expressly permitted by their building administrator, individual teachers or system employees may use social media for communication and promotion of a class or sponsored student activity. Building administrators will maintain a list of these approved staff social media accounts. These accounts must clearly indicate in their posted description that the account is sanctioned by the school.
These social media accounts must be registered using the employee’s @Berrien.k12.ga.us address. Any content that staff members publish on these social media accounts must never compromise the professionalism, integrity, and ethics in their role as a BCS professional. No photograph of a student shall be published of a student for whom a parent or guardian has withheld permission to post images.
Reminders for Employees who use Facebook, Twitter, or other Social Media Sites for Personal
Purposes
Staff members shall not post images of students on any personal social media network without written parental consent, except for images of students taken in the public arena, such as at competitions or sporting events, fine arts performances, or public honors assemblies and graduation.
Staff members should never “friend” or “follow” students who are currently enrolled in any of the Berrien County Schools. The wall between the role of a public educator and personal friendships with students should always be visible and strongly communicated. Where employees have established outside relationships with students of our system--for example, through extended family or an outside organization, they may follow a student only with written permission of the student’s parent or guardian.
Any content staff members publish, pictures they post, or dialogue they maintain on social media should never compromise the professionalism, integrity, and ethics in their role as a BCS professional. Staff members who are presently using social media sites to communicate with friends, family, and their personal networks, should be cognizant of the privacy settings they have enabled on their accounts. Nonetheless, social networking sites are by their nature public places.
A good question that staff members should ask themselves before posting a photo or message is, “Would I mind if that information appeared on the front page of the local newspaper?” If the answer is “yes,” then do not post it.
I have read the Berrien County Schools Acceptable Use Agreement for Employees and agree to abide by the directions of the Agreement.
