Power with Responsibility
As part of their freshman religion course, students are introduced to technology ethics. Topics include:
- Network operations including activity logs
- Privacy issues including e-mail and Internet privacy
- Piracy and copyright issues
- Plagiarism and turnitin.com
- CIPA – The Children’s Internet Protection Act
- Virus Protection
- Internet site blocking software
- SPAM filtering
At the end of the unit all students and their parents sign the acceptable use policy that is posted below.
ACCEPTABLE USE POLICY FOR TECHNOLOGY SERVICES
As a result of the implementation of a school wide computer network at Bishop Fenwick High School, we now provide an unlimited supply of resources and information to our educational community. Although exciting, this places an enormous responsibility on all users. The system is intended for educational uses only. All Bishop Fenwick rules are applicable to all uses of computers and related technologies. Users must adhere to the same Christian ethics that govern all other aspects of life at Bishop Fenwick. All actions performed on the network must reflect integrity, honesty and compliance with the Bishop Fenwick High School rules as detailed in the Student Handbook. The most important prerequisite for someone to receive a Bishop Fenwick High School account is that he or she take full responsibility for his or her own actions.
Therefore students accessing the network must realize that as students of Bishop Fenwick High School, they are expected to behave accordingly and to adhere to the following regulations:
- students must know that the Bishop Fenwick High School network is for educational purposes only
- students may not share logon names or passwords
- students may not use anyone else’s logon name or password
- students may not use the account of a student who inadvertently does not log off, a teacher must be notified
- students may not attempt to bypass the network security or impair it in any way
- students may not tamper with the school network or files at any time
- students may not connect any device such as a laptop, to the Bishop Fenwick network
- students may not play games on the computer at any time
- students may not copy or download games to their home drives or an external disk
- students may not copy or download any unlicensed software, (software piracy is a federal offense)
- students must always cite sources for research papers
- students must use the e-mail for educational communication only
- the use of unacceptable language is prohibited, which includes inappropriate innuendos and anything with double meaning
- students may not download, copy, forward or transfer any inappropriate or illegal materials through the Bishop Fenwick High School connection
- vandalism of software, hardware or any school property is prohibited
Bishop Fenwick is in compliance with the Children’s Internet Protection Act (CIPA), which requires an Internet safety policy and mechanism to “filter or block Internet access for both minors and adults to certain visual depictions”. The administration can and will randomly inspect all files at any time. The administration also reserves the right to add to, and/or adjust these regulations at any time.
It is understood that using the technology network and services of Bishop Fenwick High School is a privilege and that students and parents agree that the facilities will be used in accordance with the rules outlined above and in the Student Calendar/Handbook(page 3).
Any student who violates any of these rules will immediately have his/her account revoked for a period of time determined by the administration. This will negatively impact all of the student's courses where the computer is used. Also behavior in conflict with these rules may result in disciplinary action as well.