Acceptable Use of Technology
Purpose of Technology Use
Gray Stone Day School provides technology resources to its students solely for educational purposes.
Through technology, the School provides access for students and staff to resources from around the world.
Expanding technologies take students and staff beyond the confines of the classroom, and provide tremendous opportunities for enhancing, extending, and rethinking the learning process.
The goal in providing these resources is to promote educational excellence in the School by facilitating resource sharing, innovation, and communication with the support and supervision of parents, teachers, and support staff.
The Opportunities and Risks of Technology Use
With access to computers and people all over the world comes the potential availability of material that may not be considered to be of educational value in the context of the school setting, or that may be harmful or disruptive.
Because information on networks is transitory and diverse, the School cannot completely predict or control what users may or may not locate.
Gray Stone believes that the educational value of limited access to the information, interaction, and research capabilities that technology offers outweighs the possibility that users may obtain or encounter material that is not consistent with the educational goals of the School.
In accordance with the Children's Internet Protection Act, the School installs and operates filtering software to limit users' Internet access to materials that are obscene, pornographic, harmful to children, or otherwise inappropriate, or disruptive to the educational process, notwithstanding that such software may in certain cases block access to other materials as well.
At the same time, the School cannot guarantee that filtering software will in all instances successfully block access to materials deemed harmful, indecent, offensive, pornographic, or otherwise inappropriate.
The use of filtering software does not negate or otherwise affect the obligations of users to abide by the terms of this policy and to refrain from accessing such inappropriate materials.
No technology is guaranteed to be error-free or totally dependable, nor is it safe when used irresponsibly.
Among other matters, the School is not liable or responsible for:
- Any information that may be lost, damaged, or unavailable due to technical, or other, difficulties;
- Physical damage to any electronic device;
- The accuracy or suitability of any information that is retrieved through technology;
- Breaches of confidentiality;
- Defamatory material; or
- The consequences that may come from failure to follow the School’s policy and procedures governing the use of technology.
Privileges and Responsibilities
The School's electronic network is part of the curriculum and is not a public forum for general use.
Student users may access technology for only educational purposes.
The actions of student users accessing networks through Gray Stone reflect on the Gray Stone Community; therefore, student users must conduct themselves accordingly by exercising good judgment and complying with this policy and any accompanying administrative regulations and guidelines.
Students are responsible for their behavior and communications using the Schools computers and networks.
Student users of technology shall:
- Use or access the School's technology only for educational purposes.
- Have access to the School’s network limited to two (2) devices which are registered with the Technology Department. All devices must adhere to the requirements of the School's Connected! World policy.
- Comply with copyright laws and software licensing agreements.
- Understand that email and network files are not private. Network administrators may review files and communications to maintain system integrity and monitor responsible student use.
- Respect the privacy rights of others.
- Be responsible at all times for the proper use of technology, including proper use of access privileges, complying with all required system security identification codes, and not sharing any codes or passwords.
- Maintain the integrity of technological resources from potentially damaging messages, physical abuse, or viruses.
- Abide by the policies and procedures of networks and systems linked by technology.
Students may not use School technology including property owned by the School for improper uses.
These uses include, but are not limited to:
- Any and all illegal purposes;
- Any and all obscene or pornographic purposes, including, but not limited to, retrieving or viewing sexually explicit material;
- Any and all discriminatory purposes, including harassment and bullying of individuals based on race, gender, religion, sexual orientation, or disability, among others;
- Any and all purposes that would violate state, federal or international law, including:
- Students' rights to privacy and the confidential maintenance of certain information including, but not limited to, a student's grades and test scores;
- Copyright laws;
- Cyberbullying laws; and
- Sexting laws.
- Any use of profanity, obscenity, or language that is offensive or threatening;
- Reposting or forwarding personal communications without the author's prior consent;
- Reposting or forwarding of junk mail, chain letters, or inappropriate or offensive jokes;
- Destruction, alteration, disfigurement or unauthorized access of hardware, software, or firmware;
- Obtaining financial gain or Transacting any business or commercial activities;
- Plagiarizing (claiming another person's writings as your own);
- Political advocacy;
- Disrupting the use of others to any process, program or tool, including downloading or otherwise spreading computer viruses;
- Engaging in hacking of any kind, including, but not limited to, the illegal or unauthorized access;
- Allowing others to use Property issued under the program without authorization, including students whose access privileges have been suspended or revoked;
- Soliciting or distributing information with the intent to incite violence, cause personal harm, damage a person’s character, or to harass another individual.
- Any and all other purposes that would violate the Gray Stone Student Code of Conduct.
Disciplinary Actions
Violations of this policy, or any administrative regulations and guidelines governing the use of technology, may result in disciplinary action which could include loss of network access, loss of technology use, or other appropriate disciplinary action.
Violations of local, state or federal law may subject students to prosecution by appropriate law enforcement authorities.
No Expectation of Privacy
The School's electronic network is part of the curriculum and is not a public forum for general use.
Users should not expect that email or files stored on School servers will be private.
The School reserves the right to log technology use, to monitor fileserver space utilization by users, and to examine users' files and materials as needed, and at its discretion.
Users must recognize that there is no assurance of confidentiality with respect to access to transmissions and files by persons outside, or from persons inside the School.
Revised 3/6/2023