In accordance with the Children's Internet Protection Act (CIPA), the district will install the appropriate technology resources to protect students and employees from inappropriate Internet content. This system will restrict access to electronic systems which contain information pertaining to pornography, hacking, unauthorized chat rooms, and any other content considered harmful to minors. This system will also restrict access to sites which seek to solicit personally identifiable information. Students and employees who wish to appeal restricted access to certain sites must submit this request to their instructor or supervisor. If the instructor or supervisor determines the restricted content is appropriate for school use, he or she must submit a formal request to the Information Technology department for further inspection.

The Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) is a federal law governing the online collection of personal information from children under 13. Texarkana ISD utilizes several educational software applications and web-based services that are operated by third parties. In order for our students to use these valuable programs and services, certain personal identifying information, generally, the student's name and username and/or email address, must be provided to the website operator. Under federal law, these websites must provide parental notification and obtain parental consent before collecting personal information from children under the age of 13. The law permits schools to consent to the collection of personal information on behalf of all of its students, eliminating the need for individual parental consent given directly to the website operator. These outside parties are under the District's direct control with respect to the use and maintenance of student data. More information regarding COPPA is available on the Federal Trade Commission website at www.ftc.gov.

Classification of Inappropriate Material

The categories of material considered inappropriate and to which access will be blocked will include, but will not be limited to, the following: pornography, images or descriptions of sexual acts, promotion of violence, illegal use of weapons, drug use, discrimination, participation in hate groups, instructions for performing criminal acts and online gambling. The Director of Information Technology reserves the right to block use of additional sites which can unduly burden the District's computer, network, or staff resources. Also included in this category is content determined to be harmful to minors as prescribed by legal policy.

Termination or Revocation of Access

The District may suspend or revoke a technology user's access to the District's system upon violation of the District's acceptable use policy. Termination of a student's access will be effective on the date the Director of Technology Services receives notice of student withdrawal or of revocation of system privileges or on a future date if so specified in the notice.

Enforcement

Misuse of the educational technology system will be classified into two levels: Level 1-- General Misuse and Level 2--Damaging or Destructive Misuse." Actions in Level 2 may be viewed not only as violations of administrative regulations and district policy, but also as criminal activity under applicable state and federal laws (Texas Penal Code, Computer Crimes, Chapter 33). These actions also may require restitution for costs associated with system restoration, hardware, or software costs.

Types of general misuse include, but are not limited to, the following:

• using inappropriate or inflammatory language
• viewing non-educational content without prior written permission
• attaching unauthorized devices to district technology resources

Types of damaging or destructive misuse include, but are not limited to, the following:

• use of proxies or encryption
• endangering the network by manipulating software or hardware
• knowingly placing a computer virus or any other destructive computer code on a computer or the network
• Basping district security monitoring
• using another user's login
• accessing secure and/or confidential information without authorization Æ’ divulging passwords
• causing system malfunction
• Developing programs that harass other users
• attempting to infiltrate a computer or computing system
• harming or destroying district equipment, materials, or data
• attempting to degrade or disrupt system performance