Acceptable Use Policy for Electronic Resources

The American School of Guatemala provides students, teachers and staff access to the electronic network CAGNet. This network includes Internet access, computers, cameras, printers and other technological equipment used for educational purposes and any electronic device used on campus.
The purpose of this network is to assist in preparing students to succeed in 21^st century life and work by providing electronic access to a wide variety of information and developing the ability to communicate with people around the world. This document contains the rules and procedures for acceptable use of electronic resources. It is expected that all students, teachers and staff comply with these rules and procedures.

• CAGNet was established for educational purposes and is limited to this use. The term "educational purposes" includes classroom activities, professional development and activities that support the work of students, teachers and staff at CAG.
• This network aims to provide public access service or public forums. The American School of Guatemala has the right to establish reasonable restrictions on the material that is accessed or published on the web.
• Parental approval is required for all students under 18 years of age. Access is a privilege, not a right.
• Students and staff who have signed the contract are expected to respect this policy. The School is not responsible for the actions of students, teachers or staff who violate this agreement or whose use extends beyond what is stated here. Access will be blocked for those individuals who violate the policy.
• The School reserves the right to monitor all activities that take place on the network. Users shall indemnify (reimburse) the School for any damage caused by improper use of the network.
• Students and teachers are expected to follow the same rules of conduct established in the manuals as well as the rules that apply to the use of CAGNet. Students and teachers are expected to use the same common sense on CAGNet as they would in any other area or activity at school.

General Unacceptable Behavior While using CAGNet
Unacceptable behavior includes but is not limited to:

• Posting information that may cause harm to individuals or may be dangerous or disruptive to the services provided through CAGNet.
• Participating or engaging in actions against individuals including prejudicial or discriminatory actions.
• Harassing people online through CAGNet. Harassment is defined as persistently acting in a way that disturbs a person and/or causes despair.
• Posting innocently or deliberately false or defamatory information about a person or institution.
• Using obscene or criminal language, or activity intended as threats, instructions to break the security of computer networks, pornography, drug trafficking, sale or purchase of alcohol, gang activities or groups of vandalism, etc. In general, the use of inappropriate language or any behavior that negatively impacts the educational environment or violates the rules of the School.
• Abuse of network resources such as sending chain letters, spam or participating in online and network games that are not of educational nature as assigned by teachers.
• Expanding access or sending messages, photos, videos or sound files that are offensive.
• Use of CAGNet for commercial purposes.
• Use of CAGNet for political activities. Students may only use the system to communicate with elected representatives and express their views responsibly in political affairs for educational purposes.

Attempting to access the school’s non-educational systems such as accounting or student information system.

Email

The American School of Guatemala provides an email account to students, teachers and staff. CAG provides this service to be used for projects or educational activities and all communication within the school community. The email account is not intended to be used for event invitations or fundraising purposes.  Cybercitizenship is expected at all times while using this account.

• Personal email accounts can be accessed through the school network for educational purposes only (access or sending documents related to educational activities such as tasks, projects or links).
• All teachers and students must use the cag email account for all school activities
• We all must avoid forwarding private messages without the original author's consent or emails that contain private information about another person. Likewise, users can send messages to a maximum of 20 recipients at a time. Each shared group counts as one recipient.
• When a student, teacher or staff member is no longer a member of the school community, their account will be closed and deleted from the system within one month after their last day. They should report a personal email address to contact them in the future.
• Students must share their username and password with their parents.
• Every community member should sign the agreement form when their account is created/activated  and comply with the established email address format.

username: ID number

password: same password used to log into the network account.

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World Wide Web

• Access to information on the network by Early Childhood and Elementary students will generally be limited to pre-selected sites and will be carefully supervised by teachers.
• Middle School and High School access to information may be through teacher or student pre-selected sites following the criteria for website evaluation and citation required by the school.
• There is a content filter installed in the network. The mission of the filter is to protect users from falling into inappropriate sites, to avoid infringing copyright law and to protect the network from external threats. The FortiGuard filter is a handy, inexpensive option which may have its limitations. If you find educational sites blocked, please notify the network administrator David Velasquez who will verify with Claudia Estrada and configure the address. This also applies to sites that you consider should be blocked.

Areas of Communication in Real Time (IM, Chatrooms are blocked, Oovoo)

• The use of these services is allowed but only under the supervision of a teacher or in a supervised environment that has been established to support educational activities and approved by the school.
• When planning an activity that requires these services, please notify the network administrator at least a week ahead so he can configure the server and test the service.

Websites and Web Pages (includes Edline, Facebook, Hi5, Myspace, Plaxo, etc.)

• At the Elementary and Middle School levels, students are allowed to publish photographs of groups or individuals without identification. The work of students should be identified only with the name and initial of the last name.
• At the High School level, students can be identified by their full name with prior parental approval.   Photographs of groups or individuals can be identified by using the first name and initial of the last name. Parents may choose not to authorize the identification of their children.
• The material published on the Internet must meet academic expectations with regard to spelling, grammar and accuracy of the information and include references or citations.
• The material (graphics, sounds, text, etc.) belonging to another person may not be published without proper authorization from the author. The authorization note must be included.

All pages should have a link created to the school website or the class.

Personal Safety

• Students should not share their private information or that of other people online. Private information includes: name, address, phone number, name of the school, activities which reveal schedules and/or locations.
• Students in Elementary and Middle School should not provide their full name or other contact information at any time.
• High School students do not have to provide personal contact information unless required by another school for educational purposes, including admission to universities, jobs or activities of academic and professional development.
• Students should not agree to meet in person with someone they have met in cyberspace.
• Students must notify a teacher or school employee regarding any message they receive that is inappropriate or makes them feel uncomfortable. Teachers must do the same by notifying administrators.

Security System

• Students and teachers are responsible for their personal account and must take all reasonable precautions to prevent others from using it. Under no circumstances should passwords be shared with another person.
• Students and teachers must report to the technicians if they identify a security problem with their accounts.
• No person should attempt to gain unauthorized access to a CAGNet directory. These actions are illegal.
• No one should threaten the safety of CAGNet, destroy databases or spread viruses.
• The school has a virtual security system which is configured to block spam and sites that are not suitable for the educational environment. The policy regarding the sites that will be blocked is set jointly by the Principals, Coordinators and Technology Committee.

Software and files

• Software is available for students and teachers who want to use equipment belonging to the institution. Nobody can install or download executable files (.exe) without proper authorization from the Technology Department.
• A student´s account may be restricted or closed if he or she misuses the software or equipment that is owned by the School.
• Files that are stored on the CAGNet network are treated in the same way as other areas of the School such as a personal storage locker. Routine maintenance and monitoring may reveal that a student has violated this policy. No one should assume that the files stored on the network are completely private and secure.

Hardware

• The hardware and peripherals are the property of the School and serve as tools for educational purposes for students and teachers. Students and teachers are not allowed to move or relocate hardware (except for mobile equipment, installing peripherals or modify the properties of the equipment) without proper authorization from the Technology Department.
• Printing is limited to 25 black and white pages per month for students. Color printing should be authorized by section Principals. As an educational institution, we promote the responsible use of resources. Teachers should print only 1 original and make photocopies. Printing more than 10 copies of the same document is prohibited.

Vandalism
Any action of maliciously damaging or destroying data or the network (CAGNet) components connected to the basic structure of the network (APs, cameras, printers), computer hardware or software will result in cancellation of privileges. Additional disciplinary action will be determined in conjunction with the section Principal.

Plagiarism and Copyright
Plagiarism is taking the ideas or writings of others and presenting them as one's own. The school will take disciplinary action if a student plagiarizes work they find online. Materials that are copyrighted may not be published on any CAGNet system without permission. The permit must specify the document or system from which the information was copied and should be visible within the document.

Rights of students
The right of students to free expression applies to communications through the Internet. CAGNet is seen as a forum with restrictions similar to the school newspaper and it is possible to restrict certain communications for valid educational purposes.

Digital citizenship

The American School of Guatemala is committed to creating a safe and caring learning environment. We have designed a curriculum that includes safety and security, manners, bullying and ethics, research and information fluency. Through this curriculum we encourage the development of a personally responsible, collaborative community.  Any action performed by students, teachers or staff against this approach will be censored and sanctioned.

Consequences

• The American School of Guatemala will cooperate with any investigation that is necessary and related to illegal activities conducted through CAGNet.
• Disciplinary action will be taken based on the nature of the fault and in order to help students acquire self-discipline to behave appropriately on an electronic network. Offenses may result in loss of access as well as additional disciplinary action.

Individual sections or teachers may set further policies to guide students in the use of technology.

Policy Violations

The infractions of this policy may result in the loss of access as well as other disciplinary or legal action. Additional consequences may include others such as:

• Use CAGNet only under strict supervision
• Restrict the use of electronic personal devices on campus
• Suspension of privileges on the network, use of equipment or school
• Conditioned re-enrollment for the following year
• Legal action by the authorities

The consequences for breaches of this policy will be determined by administrators

Institutional Limitation of Liability

• The American School of Guatemala does not warrant that the functions or services that are provided through CAGNet are free of faults. The school is not responsible for any damage caused by data loss or interruptions of service.
• The American School of Guatemala is not responsible for the accuracy or quality of the information obtained or stored in CAGNet.

Adapted template originally created by 8e6 Technologies. CE-January, 2009. Rev. ICT teachers, February 24, 2009. Last edition: June, 2011.