Clerc Center Acceptable Use Policy

Please read the draft of the AUP and write your feedback in the comments section. Click on "comments" below.

Click here to download the AUP document.

Dec. 7th Technology Use sub-committeee meeting notes

Tim, Jimmy, Bo and Rosemary were in attendance at the Dec. 7th meeting. We began by establishing goals our sub-committee:

• Revise current AUP
• Add personal communication device agreement

We got to work on revising the Clerc Center AUP. We agreed that the Clerc Center AUP was good but it was not organized well or easy to read. It also lacks some topics that need to be included in the new version.

We looked at other AUP and began to organize the information into categories in Inspiration. The categories are:

• introduction
• respect for property
• respect for others
• unacceptable use
• acceptable use
• ethical conduct/copyright and plagiarism

Click here to see the Inspiration web.

Technology Use sub-com meeting 11-16-05

It has been awhile since our last meeting and I took some lousy notes so I am going to do my best to reconstruct what our sub-committee discussed.

I distributed copies of Western PA School for the Deaf Acceptable Use Agreements for us to discuss. WPSD had a separate agreement for personal property (laptops, pagers, video games) which we all agreed is a good idea.

We noticed that none of the examples that we reviewed did not state consequences for breaking the student agreement/contract. We concluded that the consequences must fall under the code of conduct for that school and handled in that manner. But, as I review WPSD's it does state on the agreement form that students and parents must sign:

I understand and will abide by the computer Acceptable Use Agreement. I further understand that any violation of the regulations above is against the rules of the school and may result in consequences consistent with the Code of Student Conduct. Should I commit any violation, my access privileges may be revoked, school disciplinary action may be taken, and/or appropriate legal action will be pursued.

The statement above does a good job of being specific enough to warn students of the consequences. We all agreed that we needed to state in the AUP some consequences that pertain to technology. Should it be this clear cut?
Consequences
1st offense -limited access to computers/internet
2nd offense - less access, etc
3rd offense - no access

Or just figure we are covered with this statement?

I have read the Laurent Clerc National Deaf Education Center Acceptable Use Policy. I agree to follow the rules contained in this Policy. I understand if I commit any violation, my account and privileges may be suspended, school disciplinary action may be taken, and/or appropriate criminal and legal actions may be initiated.

One suggestion was that we establish committee goal so that our meetings do not become drawn out and unproductive. We will discuss this at our next meeting on Dec. 7th at 3:15 in the KDES TecEds lab.

We didn't get to this part but I will post it anyway.
Some categories for the AUP:
Internet Use
Telecommunications
Email
Network access
Publishing to WWW
Ethical conduct
Viewing inappropriate materials
Computer use
Technology
Software
Hardware
Respect for others
Respect for property

Pagers
Chat
IM
Video games (xbox)

Update from Filtering Committee's Meeting 11/16/05

Last Wed we meet and compared our results for the URL categories. I want to thank Ken for taking the time to research the filtering policies other schools are using with Websense. If you would like to see the articles, Ken would probably be willing to email you the URLs. After reviewing other schools’ policies and some discussion amongst ourselves, here’s what we came up with. If anyone has any objections or concerns, we can discuss them.
The biggest concern noted was related to filtering out all web mail services except for Gallaudet. The reasoning for only using Gallaudet email is it is more secure and if there is a problem it is easy to follow up than with an outside service. The biggest concern was Gallaudet mail cannot be used with a dial up modem. It will not maintain a connection due to the length of time it takes to load. Students with only dial up access at home could be given special permission to use another web mail service.

At this time teachers/staff can request that websites to be blocked or unblocked. We recommend the helpdesk be used to request to have a website unblocked or blocked. It’s easier to use the same system teachers and staff are already familiar with as well as request would be documented. There has also been some discussions about a dorm staff be given permission to access the filtering software remotely if there was an incident after school or on the weekend. This needs to be discussed with Cary Barbin.

As a committee we need to decide what time when we will limit all access to the internet for MSSD dorm students. This was discussed a couple of meetings ago, but I don’t think we had come to any conclusions. The concern was peer mentors and athletes often need to do their homework late in the evening due to being involved with school activities during regular internet use hours. The options were to create specific filtering groups for students involved in sports and/or peer mentoring that would have access to the internet at a later time. These groups could be revised every semester. Another option would be not to limit access at all.

At this time no decision has been made about which filtering system, Websense or Bess, we will be purchasing. Cary is working with Gallaudet on determining which system will work best with Gallaudet’s network.

If you’re interested in viewing how Websense works, set up a time to meet with me.

Our next meeting is on Dec 7th at KDES TecEd lab at 3:15pm

Technology Use Discussion 11-2-05

The Technology Use subcommittee met on Nov. 2nd. Rosemary Stifter, Mary Ellsworth, Tim Frelich, Roberta Gage, Bo Acton, Jimmy Gore and Seth Gore were in attendance.

We took a few minutes to review the Clerc Center AUP and AUPs from other schools. Here are some notes from our discussion:

Students bringing personal laptops to school:
-should follow same policies
-connect to Gallaudet network
-must be pre-approved (or registered) by ISCS
-register with ITS?
-check with Gallaudet about their policies


Gallaudet network
-MSSD should follow the same policies as Gallaudet re: viruses, laptops, using network
-special issues for filtering for MSSD compared to KDES

Our next meeting is Wednesday, Nov. 16th, 3:30-4:30 in MSSD TecEds lab.

Web filtering: What is it and how does it work?

Here are a few articles which might clarify what internet filtering is and how it works:

Internet filtering systems and filtering pupils' access on the internet
http://safety.ngfl.gov.uk/schools/document.php3?D=d55

Introduction to Internet Filtering
http://www.opennetinitiative.net/modules.php?op=modload&name=Archive&file=index&req=viewarticle&artid=5

Acceptable Use Policies (AUP)

An AUP acts as a written contract between administrators, teachers, parents and students. It outlines the terms and conditions for technology use by defining access privileges, rules of online behaviour, and the consequences for violating those rules.

First, read the Clerc Center AUP.

Take a look at some examples.

• Fairfax County Public Schools
• New Mexico School for the Deaf
• Eugene School District, Oregon
• Bellingham Public Schools, Washington
• Carthage Central School District, NY

This essay has some excellent information about K-12 AUPs as well as a list of examples.

Review the AUP Handbook from the Virginia Department of Education, read the guidelines to developing an AUP from Indiana Department of Education, check out the Model AUP, and skim through the links at Resource Materials and Technology Center for Deaf and Hard of Hearing.

This may be a neat idea to create to help our students understand the AUP.


What are the strengths and weaknesses of the Clerc Center AUP? What needs to be added, deleted, revised? Please reflect on what you have read and make a comment.

If you find any other resources or examples of good AUPs please add them in your comments.