To protect the due process rights of students and establish necessary controls, these guidelines define appropriate educational and ethical uses of the Internet, identify student responsibilities, and outline procedures for enforcing the behavior on the Internet and handling violations. The staff of Lake Harriet Community School (LHCS) does not attempt to control the Internet environment for students. At the same time, staff wishes to make certain that parents are aware of an individual student’s responsibility when using the Internet at LHCS. 

• The Internet user is expected to abide by the following accepted guidelines of the network.
  The Internet is to be used for educational purposes.
• Users should be polite and use appropriate language.
• Users have access to email, but emails sent from or to the LHCS system are not private.

Users need to follow current policies and behavior standards of LHCS and  Minneapolis Public Schools.

• Users should respect the equipment and other resources, the network time, and the privacy of others.
• Users should not give out anyone’s name, school, or email address, including their own.
• The use of another person’s passwords or files is not allowed.

Unacceptable uses of the network include:

• Illegal activities (including copyright infringement),
• Wasting or misusing technology resources,
• Commercial activity
• Account theft (using someone else’s account without  permission).
• Offensive, demeaning, defamatory, harassing, or disruptive messages are prohibited.

Users should not access information on the Internet that would be considered controversial or inappropriate if brought to school in any other format, including pictures or articles of an adult nature.

Any items produced by students will not be posted on the Internet without their permission. If permission is granted, the items will be considered fair use and available to the  public.

If a student finds him- or herself in a website that is not appropriate for a school setting, he or she should immediately turn off the monitor (but not the computer) and get a teacher. The teacher will clear the student out of the site. The teacher can also ascertain if the site was arrived at accidentally or intentionally.

If a student misuses the Internet at school or encourages another student to misuse the Internet at school, LHCS staffs have the right and responsibility to take immediate action against the misuser and may suspend student access privileges.
 

Mpls Public Schools Policy 6415 (Internet Usage) (updated April 2012)