It is the school’s policy to promote an open computing
environment that allows access for all individuals to computing resources.
In order to protect its information assets, the school relies heavily on its
computerized information systems and recognizes that all computerized resources,
including software programs, data, hardware, and networks, must be protected
from misuse and operated and maintained in a secure environment.
We firmly believe that the valuable information and interaction available
on this worldwide network far outweighs the possibility that users may procure
material that is not consistent with the educational goals of Villa Maria
Academy. The user of computers and Internet access is a privilege and not
a right. We require all students, parents/guardians, and teachers sign a binding
agreement, which acknowledges that they have read the terms and conditions
of acceptable use and understand their inherent responsibilities.
Electronic communications facilities (such as email, VMA Intranet, and World
Wide Web) are for the use of the Villa Maria community. Those permitted access
to school’s network or Internet services are responsible for using it
in an effective, ethical and lawful manner. School communications may be picked
up by the user on campus during school hours or at home through web outlook
access (https://outlook.vmahs.org).
Because the AUP is part of the various Student and Staff Handbooks, an individual’s
agreement to abide by the AUP is implicit in his/her joining the Villa Maria
Academy community as an employee or student. In addition, the Academy reserves
the right to notify local, state and/or federal officials when it suspects
that individuals are using the Academy’s systems in violation of local,
state or Federal laws.
Above all, the use of the Villa Maria Network is to be used exclusively by
the Villa Maria Community who receive a network privilege. Villa network account
holders who provide account access to unauthorized users will result in a
loss of network privilege.
EMAIL GUIDELINES:
1. It is required of all users to check their Villa Email daily for school
announcements, academic information and general mail. This mailbox is a privilege
and should be maintained by the user to ensure the mailbox items do not prevent
the sending or receiving of mail by the user. Edline is available to manage
calendar information and school news. Users are urged to use this service
to get up to date information on school events
2. Students may check their Villa email before school, at lunchtime, and after
school. Electronic mail relating specifically to curricular work may be used
under the supervision of a faculty member within class time.
3. Sending or displaying offensive messages, discriminatory, obscene language
or pictures is prohibited. Harassing, insulting, or attacking others is prohibited.
This includes email sent from the user’s in-school account or another
Internet or web account. Messages sent under an assumed name or modified address
or with the intent to obscure the origin of the message are prohibited.
4. E-Mail is not guaranteed to be private. The contents of these files and
the copies on system backup tapes are subject to investigation by the Coordinator
of Technology if a violation occurs. All users must recognize that e-mail
messages and other information transferred by the network may contain thoughts,
conclusions and biased perceptions that were never intended for publication.
There may be liability for defamation for spreading false and disparaging
information about third parties, particularly comments on students, personnel
applicants, or vendors. Such discussions or use of the network is expressly
prohibited.
5. No one may knowingly or recklessly distribute unwanted mail or other messages.
For example, chain letters, blogging, photos, mass mailing of jokes or lost
and found items, virus alerts and other schemes that may cause excessive network
traffic or computing load are prohibited.
6. No student may engage in chat, discussion forums or bulletin boards that
are non-educational while on campus. Web-based access to chat, discussion
boards, and instant messaging is generally filtered out by the school’s
content filter. Students are prohibited from acting to circumvent this filter
for this purpose.
NETWORK GUIDELINES
1. Network users may not allow another person to log onto or otherwise use
their account.
Personal privacy must be protected. Each user must maintain the confidentiality
of their data and password. You must register your password with the technology
department once a change has been made. If you feel that your account has
been tampered with, contact the technology office immediately.
3. If there is a problem with your Villa network account, profile settings
or Villa mail, it is your responsibility to report this to the network administrator.
Teachers are not responsible to report student network account problems. Questions
may be directed to the technology office, Rm 305.
4. There is NO game playing on school computers during the school day. The
use of school computers is limited to educational purposes. Loading of any
freeware or shareware game programs on school computers or network drives
is prohibited.
5. Users should keep only Active files in their P Drive. All users are issued
a personal drive for which to store projects, student work, which must be
kept cleaned of old files and content appropriate. The Coordinator of Technology
reserves the rights to issue warnings for exceeding the user limit for their
personal drive and/or therefore delete files either inappropriate or older
than 6 months to free space on the server. Users of the network must recognize
that the hard drive space for storage of personal files is limited and are
therefore encouraged to delete all inactive files.. A user has two (2) days
to clear large files out of their personal drives after a warning is issued.
6. You must strive to keep your account free of all viruses. All school computers
have virus protection but many viruses and unwanted Adware programs still
occur through the use of web based email systems. Viruses do occur on computers
both at home and school. Make sure you are protecting your home PC from virus
related materials with appropriate software. If you feel you have a virus
or know of a virus, contact the Technology Office immediately. Users may not
move, repair, reconfigure, modify or attach external devices to existing systems.
7. All users who are using the lab areas on campus are required to sign in
with the lab monitor on duty. If no person is on duty, users who wish to use
the computers must sign in on the list in the room.
8. There is NO Food or Drink permitted in the lab areas or near any computer.
This includes after school and lunch periods especially. There is a risk of
permanent damage to keyboards and computers, plus the added personal risk
of liquids near electronic equipment.
9. Computer labs are to be maintained as quiet study areas. Students who use
the labs or library for study after school are reminded that serious academic
work is being done and therefore, talking should be respectful and subdued.
If you wish to listen to music in the lab while working, headsets must be
worn.
10. Students are not allowed to download or install any software, online or
installed toolbars, or executables in any school hard drive (C Drive) or network
server drive (P/M/S drives).
11. For a student’s own safety, she should never pass along personal
information to anyone on cyberspace. It is strongly discouraged for students
to give out personal information via email, websites, online forms, discussion
groups or messaging systems. Keep personal information confidential at all
times, including name, address, phone number, age, financial information,
and email addresses. You are responsible for your account and all activity
that is conducted with your account.
EDLINE (Intranet)
1. All Students, Staff and Parents will receive access to Edline (web intranet).
An activation code allows Villa Community to access rosters, class schedules,
grades and more. Specific and pertinent school information will be posted
on Edline and can be accessed by visiting http://www.edline.net/pages/vma
or accessing the Villa website at http://www.vmahs.org and selecting the edline
link.
2. All students are required to check their email and Edline accounts regularly
for class, course, activity school and sport club updates. Most school correspondence
will be delivered on edline for the school community.
ADDITIONAL TECHNOLOGIES:
3. There will be no cell phone use during the school day. Cell phones must
be turned off.
4. The teacher reserves the right to check the content of memory on student
TI 83/84 Calculators and free up memory space for Academic purposes.
5. The School Administration reserve the right to limit or prohibit external
devices in the classrooms such as personal laptops, PDA, calculators, wireless
devices, etc. Any personal device from a student or staff member must be registered
with the Technology Office before it may be used in his/her academic classes.
A pass will be given to the student when her personal electronic property
has been properly registered. All laptops must have updated virus protection
before use on the campus network.
6. Students are responsible to pick up all printed work from network printers
during the school day. Please check your default printer before printing your
documents. Please conserve paper.
COPYRIGHT/WEB USE GUIDELINES:
1. It is inappropriate to invade the privacy of another by accessing, copying
or distributing another’s computer files or computer programs without
consent. The same responsible behavior expected from a member of the Villa
Maria community in regular school settings is also expected in cyberspace.
“Pirating” software, the illegal use or transferal of stolen software
is a form of stealing and hence is unacceptable.
2. A student or employee who inadvertently becomes part of a transfer of inappropriate
material to or from the Internet is obligated to report the incident to the
Network Administrator. All users must recognize that the Internet is, to a
substantial extent, an unregulated, unsupervised and uncensored source of
information and method of communication. Purposeful transfer of this type
of material is, of course, forbidden.
3. Copyrighted material must not be downloaded or used without the author’s
permission. No one will be allowed to download, use or install programs or
files to the system that violates copyright. This includes all music MPEG3
files, papers and published documents, and games. No programs (ftp or http)
may be downloaded and stored on either the lab computers; servers or P drives
of users.
4. Vandalism of any kind will result in termination of computer privileges.
Vandalism is defined as any attempt to harm or damage computers, computer
systems, or computer networks, or to infiltrate another computer system. These
activities are prohibited and the user is responsible for all repair costs
incurred by the Academy as a result of such actions.
5. No student may use our network for financial gain, hacking, creating or
spreading viruses on our network, selling or storing of non-academic materials
on our servers or private drives.
6. A complete Copyright Policy can be viewed from the Villa Maria Edline site.
Any user who does not choose to comply with these guidelines will lose computer
privileges for a period of time to be determined by the administration. Repeated
infractions may result in permanent termination of computer and/or Internet
privileges. Standard disciplinary procedures of Villa Maria Academy will apply.
6/30/06 updated
Lisa Roberts, Network Administrator
lroberts@vmahs.org