Roane County Schools

Policy 490 - Acceptable Use of Technology by Students

Adopted on June 26, 2025

Effective July 1, 2025

The Board provides technology and information resources to support the educational and professional needs of its students and staff. The Board provides students with access to the Internet for limited educational purposes only and utilizes online educational services/apps to enhance the instruction delivered to its students.

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 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 and the Student Code of Conduct govern students' use of the County's technology and information resources and students' 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 student is on Board-owned property or at a Board-sponsored activity.

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.

Parents are advised that a determined user may be able to gain access to services and/or resources on the Internet that the Board has not authorized for educational purposes. Parents of minors are responsible for setting and conveying the standards that their children should follow when using the Internet.

Pursuant to Federal law, students shall receive education about the following:

1. safety and security while using e-mail, chat rooms, social media, and other forms of direct electronic communications;
2. the dangers inherent with the online disclosure of personally identifiable information;
3. the consequences of unauthorized access (e.g., "hacking", "harvesting", "digital piracy", "data mining", etc.), cyberbullying and other unlawful or inappropriate activities by students online; and
4. unauthorized disclosure, use, and dissemination of personally identifiable information regarding minors.

Staff members shall provide instruction for their students regarding the appropriate use of technology and online safety and security as specified above and staff will monitor students' online activities while at school.

Monitoring may include, but is not necessarily limited to, visual observations of online activities during class sessions; or use of specific monitoring tools to review browser history and network, server, and computer logs.

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.

Students are responsible for good behavior when using County technology resources - i.e., behavior comparable to that expected of students when they are in classrooms, school hallways, and other school premises and school-sponsored events. Communications on the Internet are often public in nature. General school rules for behavior and communication apply.

Students may only use County technology resources to access or use social media if it is done for educational purposes in accordance with their teacher's approved plan for such use.

Students who disregard this policy may have their use privileges suspended or revoked, and disciplinary action taken against them.

Students are personally responsible and liable, both civilly and criminally, for uses of County technology resources that are not authorized by this policy.

District-Issued Student E-Mail Account

Students assigned a school email account are required to utilize it or an account associated with it for all school-related electronic communications, including those to staff members and individuals and/or organizations outside the County with whom they are communicating for school-related projects and assignments. Further, as directed and authorized by their teachers, they shall use their school-assigned email account when signing-up/registering for access to various online educational services, including mobile applications/apps that will be utilized by the student for educational purposes.

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. Students 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.

Students shall not send or forward mass e-mails, even if educationally-related.

Students may join list servs or other e-mail services (e.g. RSS feeds) that pertain to academic work, provided the e-mails received from the 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 the student become excessive.

Students are encouraged to keep their inbox and folders organized by regularly reviewing e-mail messages and purging e-mails once they are read and no longer needed for school.

All students shall annually receive instruction on this policy and acknowledge receipt and understanding of it by means of a written statement provided by the Superintendent.

This page accessed on July 6, 2025 @ 7:46 pm.