IJNDBA - Student Technology Responsible Use

DUDLEY-CHARLTON REGIONAL SCHOOL DISTRICT

POLICY - IJNDBA

Student Technology Responsible Use Policy

1. INTRODUCTION & PURPOSE OF EDUCATIONAL TECHNOLOGY
The Dudley-Charlton Regional School District (DCRSD) recognizes that integrated digital technology is a vital mechanism for learning, collaborating, creating, and communicating within modern 21st-century educational frameworks. Access to district-provided technology resources including the school network, emails, school computers, learning applications, and internet access is provided to enhance instructional delivery, support student achievement, and make schoolwork and learning more efficient.

By accepting access to these digital systems and equipment, students take full responsibility for utilizing them appropriately, legally, ethically, and safely. Use of district network nodes and information assets must align  cleanly with the mission, curriculum standards, and core values of the Dudley-Charlton Regional School District.

PRIVILEGE STATEMENT: The use of DCRSD network services, digital infrastructure, and district-owned hardware is an educational privilege, not a right. This privilege may be restricted, suspended, or completely revoked by district administrators at any time for non-compliance, technical tampering, or behavioral infractions.

2. SUPERVISION, MONITORING, AND EXPECTATION OF PRIVACY
DCRSD carefully balances the educational utility of information networks with strict legal compliance and individual safety. In alignment with federal mandates and state regulations, the district maintains a rigorous monitoring framework:

• No Expectation of Privacy: All data, network files, messages, emails, chat logs, and internet history created, stored, or transmitted using district-owned hardware, local servers, cloud-hosted platforms, or wireless networks are the sole property of DCRSD. Students should have no expectation of privacy regarding their use of school technology resources.
• Google Workspace Framework: The district fully implements and requires the use of Google Workspace for Education to deliver classroom lessons and assignments, track student submissions, and manage instruction. Active account access is required for educational enrollment and participation. While utilizing this platform, the specific Additional Google Services authorized for curriculum implementation include YouTube, Google Earth, Google Maps, and approved Chrome Web Store extensions.
• Administrative Audit Rights: District administrators and the IT Department reserve the absolute right, without prior notification, to monitor, inspect, copy, log, review, and audit any usage of the network and internet. This includes authority to examine data found on school networks to protect safety, enforce institutional discipline, and ensure property security.
• Network Interventions: The district IT Department retains authority to temporarily block, throttle, or disconnect any personal or school-issued device suspected of interfering with system integrity, slowing down the school internet, or creating a security risk.

3. STUDENT ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES
To preserve the security, integrity, and absolute safety of the learning environment, all students are required to adhere strictly to the following core guidelines of responsible digital citizenship:

• Students shall utilize district technology hardware, applications, licenses, and networks exclusively for educationally relevant assignments and teacher-approved purposes.
• Students must never engage in any form of computer vandalism, physical destruction, hacking attempts, or unauthorized system configurations.
• Changing core system settings, installing unapproved third-party software applications, downloading unapproved code or scripts, or deliberately introducing viruses onto district units is strictly prohibited.
• Students must coordinate heavy-bandwidth actions (such as downloading massive media files or execution of large-scale print runs) with a supervising staff member to avoid slowing down the network.

• Students are solely accountable for all actions occurring under their assigned accounts. System usernames and passwords must be kept strictly confidential and never shared with peers.
• Students must exclusively log into their own designated profiles. Accessing, viewing, modifying, or tampering with another user's personal files, cloud storage containers, or digital workspace is an explicit violation.
• Posing as another individual, stealing someone's online identity, or allowing another student to operate a device under one's active profile will trigger direct disciplinary action.
• Students should proactively log out of their accounts when leaving computing hardware unattended to protect data security.

• Students shall not post, transmit, or distribute private identifying information (including residential home addresses, personal cell phone numbers, or dates of birth) over the public internet without explicit staff direction.
• Students are strictly prohibited from capturing, recording, filming, broadcasting, or distributing audio, video, or photos of any school activity, peer, or staff member without the explicit, prior consent of both the supervising instructor and the individuals involved.
• Students must never arrange in-person meetings with anyone encountered solely through digital channels without parental accompaniment and administrative clearance. Any threatening or unusual messages must be reported to an educator immediately.

• Digital text and communications must match the civil standards expected in a physical DCRSD classroom. Disrespectful, profane, obscene, racist, sexist, threatening, or otherwise discriminatory remarks across school channels (emails, chats, shared files) are banned.
• Students shall not use school networks to access, store, or distribute materials that are pornographic, violent, supportive of criminal organizations, or encouraging of illegal behaviors.
• The provisions of the district's Bullying Prevention and Intervention Plan apply in full to digital spaces. Cyberbullying, online harassment, online intimidation, or spreading harmful rumors using school property will not be tolerated.
• District systems may never be used for mass unsolicited spamming, transmission of chain letters, commercial advertising, or personal financial operations.

• AI Plagiarism Defined: Submitting content generated, translated, or substantially altered by an Artificial Intelligence platform (such as ChatGPT or Gemini) as if it were a student's own original writing, computer code, or visual artwork constitutes academic dishonesty and is prohibited unless specifically authorized by the teacher for a distinct lesson segment.
• Instructional Alignment: Students must ask their teacher for clear guidance regarding the acceptable boundaries of AI utility for every assignment and adhere strictly to the parameters set by the instructor.
• Attribution and Transparency: If AI mechanisms are utilized within a permitted lesson framework, students are required to clearly reference them, documenting the tools utilized via accurate citations.
• Skill Protection: Relying on automated generators to bypass fundamental critical writing, reading, and calculation exercises gets in the way of building critical learning skills. Original thinking is expected.

• Plagiarism Prevention: Projects, papers, and assessments must genuinely reflect the student's original analysis and compilation. Representing external thoughts or text as one's own is forbidden.
• Citation Standards: Students must credit all external sources, including media assets, reference databases, and web literature, using accepted academic documentation styles.
• Copyright Compliance: Downloading, copying, or distributing illegally obtained media, licensed audio files, software cracks, or proprietary applications is strictly forbidden. Students must comply with all federal copyright regulations.

• Children's Internet Protection Act (CIPA): The district deploys an automated, filtering firewall designed to block obscene content, child pornography, or visual data deemed harmful to minors. Because automated filters are not perfect, students must immediately notify an educator if they encounter inappropriate content so that the IT Department can adjust filtering profiles.
• Circumvention Prohibited: Any active attempt to bypass, disable, or alter school web filters including utilizing Virtual Private Networks (VPNs), external proxy servers, private browsers, personal mobile hotspots, or cellular data plans while on school property is an explicit, high-level violation.
• COPPA & FERPA: DCRSD actively shields student metadata, avoiding the collection or direct transmission of sensitive personal details to third-party digital providers.

7. DEVICE LOGISTICS, CARE, AND FINANCIAL LIABILITY
While most students use shared school equipment and do not have an individually assigned personal 1:1 device, the following fundamental expectations apply to all technology use within the district:

• Care and Handling: Students who are assigned a personal device, or who are using shared classroom hardware, must treat the equipment carefully. Keep tech components away from food and liquids, do not leave them on the floor, and handle them gently.
• No Tampering or System Modifications: Students are strictly prohibited from modifying school devices. This includes attempting to delete factory security profiles, disabling tracking systems, resetting software configurations, or removing Mobile Device Management (MDM) filters.
• Daily Readiness: If a student has been issued a specific device to take home, they are responsible for bringing it back to school every day completely charged and ready for class.
• Financial Liability for Damage: Students and their families are held financially responsible for the replacement or repair costs of any district technology asset that is damaged due to malicious intent, rough handling, or extreme carelessness.
• Data Protection: All school files are hosted on district systems. Students leaving the district or graduating must use the Google Takeout tool to back up and export their work before their school account is permanently deactivated.

8. ENFORCEMENT AND DISCIPLINARY CONSEQUENCES
Violations of any segment of this Student Technology Responsible Use Policy will be sent immediately to school administrators. Consequences will be adjusted to the specific severity and frequency of the infraction:

1. Temporary or permanent restriction of localized digital features, specific apps, or network parameters.
2. Total revocation of individual network privileges and cloud account access.
3. Standard school disciplinary actions, including administrative detentions, mandatory parent/guardian tracking conferences, or out-of-school suspension/exclusion.
4. Paying to repair or replace damaged hardware and equipment.
5. Immediate referral to local, state, or federal law enforcement authorities if conduct violates criminal statutes.

9. DISTRICT WARRANTIES AND NETWORK LIABILITY DISCLAIMERS
OFFICIAL POLICY DISCLAIMER (IJNDBA): The Dudley-Charlton Regional School District makes no warranties of any kind, whether expressed or implied, for the digital infrastructure, network service, or internet access it provides. The district will not be held responsible for any damages or losses a user may suffer, including but not limited to loss of data resulting from transmission delays, non-deliveries, mis-deliveries, or service interruptions caused by technical errors or user oversight. The district is not responsible for the accuracy, reliability, or quality of informational data obtained through external networks. Use of any data obtained via DCRSD systems is strictly at the user’s own risk. Financial transactions or obligations arising through the unauthorized use of network channels are the sole liability of the student's family.

Statutory Framework:

• Children's Internet Protection Act (CIPA), 47 U.S.C. § 254(h)
• Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), 15 U.S.C. §§ 6501-6506
• Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), 20 U.S.C. § 1232g
• Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 71, Section 37H (Student Conduct & Cyberbullying regulations)