Boulder Valley School District
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EHCA-R

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EHCA-R

File: EHCA-R (pdf)
Adopted: August 24, 2004

WEB AND INTERNET PUBLISHING

The District recognizes that many volunteers, both staff and community members, are generously contributing time and energy to bring BVSDWeb up to the expectations of our technologically savvy community.  This document will provide guidelines, standards, and best practices for the content, support, and maintenance of BVSDWeb.

All material, textual and graphic, on a district Web site shall be either original to the school or District, in the public domain, or posted with the express written permission of the rightful owner.  Concern about the content of any page(s) created by students or staff should be directed to the building principal or appropriate district-level administrator, or to the Chief Information Officer when related to BVSDWeb.

Web Publishing Guidelines

  1. The District shall designate individual(s) responsible for maintaining BVSDWeb.  A building principal shall make such designation for an individual school.  School Web sites are the responsibility of the building principal who designates a school Web master(s).  The school Web master is responsible for managing the school Web content and to monitor class, teacher, student, and extracurricular Web pages.
     
  2. A department head shall make such designation for an individual department.  Schools, departments, or individual staff members who wish to publish Web pages must be appropriately qualified and designated by the department head in coordination with the Division of Information Technology.
     
  3. Students may create and publish Web pages as a part of a class or school sponsored activity under the direction of a teacher or administrator.  Web pages created by students and student organizations will be subject to the requirements of this policy, established policy related to student print publications and student organizations, and in accordance with state and federal law related to student expression. Staff or student work may be published only as it relates to a class project, course, and other curricular related or school activity and must meet the educational objectives of the school-related activity. Prior to publication of any student work, written permission must be granted by parents of minor students or by non-minor students.
     
  4. In the production of Web publications, students and staff members shall be held responsible for appropriate behavior in accordance with the terms and conditions of district policy, regulations, and agreements.  These terms and conditions are not intended to be all-inclusive, but should serve as a reference for appropriate and safe uses of electronic communications and resources.  Students and staff members who fail to comply with the requirements of this policy and its accompanying regulations will be subject to termination of privileges and/or appropriate disciplinary action.
     
  5. Administrative departments may publish their own Web pages.  Each department head is responsible for the content and maintenance of departmental Web pages, though he or she may designate a department webmaster to actually author the pages.  The materials published online are to coincide with the department’s printed materials but may also take full advantage of the resources and structure of the Web, using internal and external links to relevant references thus increasing the effectiveness of the communication.
     
  6. Teachers and other staff may create Web pages for use in classroom activities or to provide resources for other teachers or staff members.  Each individual is responsible for maintaining their own pages.  Staff Web pages must reflect positively upon the district or department or school.  The school’s webmaster acts as a consultant for the school’s Web site and is to be informed of planned publishing activities.
     
  7. Any material that fails to meet established educational objectives or that is in violation of a provision of Board Policy and Administrative Regulations will be removed.  Material may not be removed on the basis of disagreement with the views expressed.
     
  8. All pages will be updated regularly to keep content current and accurate.  Outdated pages whose originating author is no longer able to update them will be removed.
     
  9. Automated links to fundraising activities, the proceeds of which directly benefit a school or district and do not infringe upon or detract from classroom activities or the education process are permitted.  District Internet or online services may acknowledge the contribution of appropriate sponsors and may include such sponsors’ logos and automated links from the content that is provided.

Protection of Private Information

Because Web publications are available to the entire world, special care must be taken to protect the privacy of students and staff.  No personal information about students or staff such as home addresses or telephone numbers shall be included in a Web page.

  1. Groups of five or more students involved in an activity may be included, but they shall be identified only with the name of the activity.  Permission is not required for large group photos.
     
  2. Photographs of or information on smaller groups or individuals may be included with the signed permission of a parent or guardian (or student who is of legal age to consent).
     
  3. No confidential student information shall be published on or linked to a Web page.  No personal information about students or staff such as telephone numbers, addresses, names of family members, or names of friends may be published.
     
  4. Images of co-workers or staff members must not be posted without their express written permission and only when it is appropriate.  Personal information or data must not be published as well.

Content Standards

  1. All information must accurately reflect the mission, goals, policies, programs, and activities of Boulder Valley School District.  All subject matter should relate to curriculum, instruction, and general information that is appropriate or it should relate to activities of the District or the schools and departments within the District.
     
  2. Web pages shall link only to sites that have a purpose directly related to the educational mission of the District.  Links to sites considered unsuitable under any other provision of school or district policy will not be allowed.
     
  3. All pages shall reflect BVSD ownership.  The BVSD logo and/or school logos shall be present on all pages.
     
  4. The District maintains full authority to regulate and control content on BVSDWeb.  District administrators, school principals, and classroom teachers are responsible for Web page approval prior to publishing.  No Web page shall exist without the prior approval of the principal or appropriate District administrator.  The District webmaster may remove content from BVSDWeb at any time if inappropriate materials are found.

Consistency Standards

  1. All Web pages shall follow all applicable copyright laws and guidelines.  All material on the Internet is considered copyright.  Written permission shall be received from the copyright holder before publishing any copyrighted material on the Internet.  This includes, but isn’t limited to, text, graphics, pictures, video, sounds, music, characters, logos, and trademarks.
     
  2. It is an expectation that all District Web pages are of high quality in both style and presentation.  Every effort shall be made to ensure all Web page publications are free of spelling and grammatical errors and only contain links to appropriate material.
     
  3. While it is understood that Web-based access to application systems containing confidential information for the purpose of running the business of the District is the norm, all Web pages that may include personally identifiable and/or confidential information about students or staff must limit access through a user name and password logon.  These pages must also conform to relevant portions of the Web and Internet Publishing policy and regulations including, but not limited to, restrictions related to privacy and confidentiality.  User names and passwords required to maintain such sites shall be carefully guarded to ensure that only authorized personnel have the opportunity maintain or view this information.

School Web Site Standards

  1. Each school “home” page shall include

a. A link back to the BVSD “home” page;

b. The BVSD logo;

c. The school address, phone number, FAX number, e-mail address, and principal’s name;

d. A school closure link pointing to BVSD’s cancellation page; and

e. A map to the school or a link pointing to the school’s street map provided on the BVSD Web site.

2. Each school Web site should contain:

a. An e-mail link to either the school’s webmaster or a contact appropriate to the content of the page;

b. Critical school information, including its mission statement, its program characteristics, etc.;

c. The school supply list (elementary and middle schools only);

d. Fee information; and

e. An “official” school calendar including holidays, teacher conference days, “Back to School Night”.

3. Each school Web site will not contain:

a. Any links to private family or private student homepages; or

b. Any links to commercial enterprises not directly associated with the school’s educational efforts.

4. Each school web site might contain:

a. Daily bell schedules;

b. Events/Activities calendar;

c. Parents/volunteers/PTO information;

d. School clubs or school organization information;

e. Individual class pages;

f. Breaking news or announcements;

g. Online school newsletter;

h. SIT information;

i. Library/Media Center pages or information;

j. Monitored guest book; and/or

k. Monitored bulletin board.

Best Practices

  1. Good ‘housekeeping” will be practiced in each directory.  Orphaned files will be removed.  A logical directory structure for files must be maintained.
     
  2. File and folder names on the server will be composed entirely of letters, numerals, and the dash and underscore characters.  No spaces or other characters may be used in either file or directory names.
     
  3. The server is only for active Web files.  No source text or graphic files may be “stored” on the server.
     
  4. School principals must be kept apprised of any major or potentially controversial changes to the school Web site.
     
  5. Pages must be designed to fit onto a screen set at 800 pixels wide without any horizontal scrolling."
     
  6. All image tags should have “alt” tags and pixel widths declared within them.
     
  7. All content will be revisited and updated where needed on a monthly basis.
     
  8. Only by rare exception should any image on a page be larger than 35 kilobytes; all images should be optimized to the smallest file size before being posted to the server.
     
  9. Pages should be reviewed through a variety of browsers to ensure usability for a broad spectrum of users.
     
  10. Web usage statistics shall be made available.

LEGAL REFS:        
C.R.S. § 22-1-120
C.R.S. § 22-32-110 (1)(r)
C.R.S. § 24-72-201 et seq. (Colorado Open Records Act)
20 U.S.C. §1232g (Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act)
20 U.S.C. 6801 et seq. (Elementary and Secondary Education Act)
47 U.S.C. 254(h) (Children's Internet Protection Act of 2000)
47 U.S.C. 231  (Child Online Protection Act of 1998)
34 C.F.R. § 99.1 et seq. (Regulations)
Copyright Laws
            
CROSS REFS:        
EGAAA, Duplication of Copyrighted Material
EGAEA, Electronic Communications
GBEE, Staff Use of District Technology
IGDA, Student Organizations
IIAA, Learning Materials Selection and Adoption
JF-R, Student Rights and Responsibilities
JFC, Student Conduct
JS, Student Use of District Technology
        

End of File:  EHCA-R