Policy 590 - Acceptable Use of Technology by Staff
Adopted on August 8, 2019
Effective August 8, 2019
The Board provides technology and information resources to support the educational and professional needs of its staff and students. The Board provides staff with access to the Internet for limited educational purposes only and utilizes online educational services/apps to enhance the instruction delivered to its students and to facilitate the staff's work.
As West Virginia Board of Education Policy 2460 defines the acceptable use of technology for all students, staff, and visitors in West Virginia's K12 computer network and school facilities, the Board adopts this policy and incorporates it by reference here. The following provisions are intended to extend to local operation and in no way contradict or supplant WVBE Policy 2460.
The District's County's computer network and Internet system do not serve as a public access service or a public forum, and the Board imposes reasonable restrictions on its use consistent with its limited educational purpose.
This policy governs staff use of the County's technology and information resources and staff's personal communication devices when they are connected to the County's computer network, Internet connection and/or online educational services/apps, or when used while the staff member is on Board-owned property or at a Board-sponsored activity. For the purposes of this policy, staff shall include all professional and service personnel, those employed on extracurricular assignments, and Board members when acting in their official capacities.
The Board may not be able to technologically limit access to only those services and resources that have been authorized for the purpose of instruction, study and research related to the curriculum.
The Board may add other electronic filters at the county or school level.
The Superintendent may authorize temporary or permanent access to websites or online educational services/apps containing appropriate material, if access to such sites has been inappropriately blocked by the technology protection measures. The determination of whether material is appropriate or inappropriate shall be based on the content of the material and the intended use of the material, not on the protection actions of the technology protection measures. The Superintendent also may authorize temporary disabling of the technology protection measures to enable access for bona-fide research or other lawful purposes.
Staff members will participate in professional development programs in accordance with the provisions of law and this policy. Training shall include:
- the safety and security of students while using e-mail, chat rooms, social media, and other forms of direct electronic communications;
- the inherent danger of students disclosing personally identifiable information online;
- the consequences of unauthorized access (e.g., "hacking", "harvesting", "digital piracy", "data mining", etc.), cyberbullying and other unlawful or inappropriate activities by students or staff online; and
- unauthorized disclosure, use, and dissemination of personally identifiable information regarding minors.
The disclosure of personally identifiable information about students online is prohibited.
Building principals are responsible for providing training so that Internet users under their supervision are knowledgeable about this policy and its accompanying guidelines. The Board expects that staff will provide guidance and instruction to students in the appropriate use of the technology. Such training shall include, but not be limited to, education concerning appropriate online behavior, including interacting with other individuals on social media, including in chat rooms and cyberbullying awareness and response.
With prior approval from the Superintendent, staff may direct students who have been issued school-assigned e-mail accounts to use those accounts when signing-up/registering for access to various online educational services, including mobile applications/apps that will be utilized by the students for educational purposes under the teacher's supervision.
Staff who are found to have violated this policy may have their use privileges suspended or revoked, and disciplinary action taken against them. Users Staff are personally responsible and liable, both civilly and criminally, for uses of County technology and information resources that are not authorized by this policy.
Social Media Use
An employee's personal or private use of social media may have unintended consequences. While the Board respects its employees' First Amendment rights, those rights do not include permission to post inflammatory comments that could compromise the District's mission, undermine staff relationships, or cause a substantial disruption to the school environment. This warning includes staff members' online conduct that occurs off school property including from the employee's private computer. Postings to social media should be done in a manner sensitive to the staff member's professional responsibilities.
Use of social media by staff using County technology resources shall be limited to educational purposes and those purposes which advance Board's interests.
District-Issued Staff E-Mail Account
E-mail accounts issued to staff by the West Virginia Department of Education must be used by staff for any official County e-mail communications. Personal e-mail accounts on providers other than the WVDE's e-mail system may be blocked at any time if concerns for network security, spam, or virus protection arise. Staff are expected to exercise reasonable judgment and prudence and take appropriate precautions to prevent viruses from entering the County's network when opening or forwarding any e-mails or attachments to e-mails that originate from unknown sources.
Staff shall not send or forward mass e-mails, even if the e-mails concern Board business.
Staff may join list-servs or other e-mail services (e.g. RSS feeds) that pertain to their responsibilities in the County, provided these list servs or other e-mail services do not become excessive. E-mail from list servs or e-mail services may be blocked if the e-mails received by staff become excessive.
Staff are encouraged to appropriately save e-mails that constitute a public record or student record and e-mails that are subject to a litigation hold.
Public Records
The Board complies with all Federal and State laws pertaining to electronic mail. Accordingly, e-mails written by or sent to staff and Board members may be public records if their content concerns Board business, or education records if their content includes personally identifiable, non-directory information about a student. E-mails that are public records are subject to retention and disclosure, upon request. E-mails that are student records must be maintained. Finally, e-mails may constitute electronically stored information ("ESI") that may be subject to a litigation hold.
E-mails written by or sent to staff and Board members by means of their private e-mail account may be public records if the content of the e-mails concerns Board business or education records if their content includes personally identifiable information about a student. Consequently, staff shall comply with a Board request to produce copies of e-mail in their possession that are either public records or education records, or that constitute ESI that is subject to a litigation hold, even if such records reside on a computer owned by an individual staff member, or are accessed through an e-mail account not controlled by the Board.
All staff shall annually receive training on this policy and acknowledge receipt and understanding of it by means of a written statement provided by the Superintendent.
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