General Requirements

All material published on the District’s website must have educational value and/or support the District guidelines, goals, and policies.  Material appropriate for web publishing includes information about the District and its School Board members, agendas, policies, appropriate administrative procedures, Department activities or services, schools, teachers or classes, student projects, and student extracurricular organizations. Personal information, not related to education, will not be allowed on the District’s website.

The District webmaster shall implement a centralized process for review and uploading of material onto the District’s website to ensure that, before material is published, it complies with District policy and procedures. The District webmaster shall supervise the efforts of all staff members responsible for web publishing at each level of District web publishing and, when appropriate, hold in-serve opportunities for those staff members.  The staff members responsible for web publishing are identified in these procedures in the section Different Levels of Web Publication.  The District webmaster shall provide regular feedback and suggestions to the Superintendent regarding these Guidelines.

All content published on the District’s website must:

1. Comply with all State and federal law concerning copyright, intellectual property rights, and legal uses of network computers.

2. Comply with Board policies, administrative procedures, these Guidelines, and other District guidelines provided for specific levels of publishing.  This specifically includes the Board’s Access to Electronic Networks policy and the District’s procedures on Acceptable Use of Electronic Networks. 

3. Due to limited storage space and varying network speeds, file sizes must be kept under 50 kilobytes unless the District webmaster approves otherwise.

4. Comply with the publishing expectations listed below.

Material that fails to meet these Guidelines or is in violation of Board policy and/or procedures shall not be published on the District’s website.  The District reserves the right to remove any material in violation of its policy or procedures.  Failure to follow these Guidelines or Board policy and/or procedures may result in loss of privileges, disciplinary action, and/or appropriate legal action.

Publishing Expectations

The following are minimum expectations for all District web pages:

1. The style and presentation of web published material should be of high quality and designed for clarity and readability.  Material shall not be published in violation of the District’s procedures on Acceptable Use of Electronic Networks, including material that is defamatory, abusive, obscene, profane, sexually oriented, threatening, racially offensive, or harassing or material that invades the privacy of any individual.  Anonymous messages are prohibited.

2. Correct grammar and spelling are expected.

3. All information must be verifiable.

4. Publications must include a statement of copyright when appropriate and indicate that permission has been secured when including copyrighted materials.

5. Publications must identify affiliation with the District, school, and/or department.

6. Widespread use of external links to non-District websites is discouraged, but if used, the external sites must contain appropriate educational materials and information as exclusively determined by the District. Every effort should be made to insure that all links are operational. Every link to an external website must open a new browser window. 

7. Relevant dates are required on all publications, including the date on which the publication was placed on the District’s website.  Each site should contain the date the page was last updated.

8. All publications must include the District email address of the staff member responsible for the page.  This provides a contact person for questions or comments.  If a student is the publisher, the sponsoring staff member’s email must be included as the responsible person. Only District staff members may act as student sponsors.

9. Use of the District’s website for personal or financial gain is prohibited.  No commercial or private accounts should be listed on any District web pages.

10. All documents should be previewed on different web browsers, especially Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, or Microsoft Internet Explorer, before being posted on the District’s website.

For more information about these expectations or other issues related to web publishing, please contact the System Administrator.

Protecting Student and Staff Privacy

Personal information concerning students or staff members, including home addresses and telephone numbers, shall not be published on District web pages.

A student’s last name, last name initial, and grade-level shall not be published on District web pages.  In addition, student records shall not be disclosed. In special circumstances (e.g., where accolades are warranted), the sponsoring staff member should contact the Building Principal who may seek permission from the student’s parents/guardians.  Web pages shall not display student pictures with a student identified by his or her name unless written parental permission was first granted (e.g., by executing the form Using a Photograph or Videotape of a Student). Student email addresses, whether a personal or District account, shall not be listed on any District web page.

Submitting Material to Be Published

Everyone submitting material for publication on the District’s website shall have signed an Authorization for Access to the District’s Electronic Network.  Before material is published on the District’s website, the author must authorize the District in writing to publish the material, unless the District owns the copyright.  All material submitted by a teacher or other staff member for publication on the District’s website is deemed “work for hire,” and the copyright in those works vests in the District. All material submitted for the District’s website is subject to treatment as a District-sponsored publication.

Different Levels of Web Publication

The following guidelines provide specific information regarding web publishing at different levels within the District. At each level, a staff member is identified as being responsible for web publishing at that level.  This individual’s web publishing efforts are supervised by the District webmaster.

District-Level

The District webmaster conducts the District-level web publishing efforts and supervises other levels of web publishing.  District-level publishing includes the District’s homepage as well as any publishing activities representing the District as a whole, e.g., information about Board meetings, Board policy, and schedules.  The District homepage shall have a link to an Online Privacy Statement. 

Department-Level

District departments (e.g., Transportation, Personnel, or Curriculum) may publish their own web pages as part of the District’s website.  The department supervisor or director is ultimately responsible for his or her respective department’s web pages, but may appoint a staff member as the department’s webmaster to fulfill the maintenance, reviewing, and uploading tasks.  The department supervisor or director shall keep the District webmaster informed of who is the department webmaster.

The web-published material should coincide with that department’s printed material.  The District webmaster should be consulted before publishing potentially sensitive material, e.g., school comparisons or student data.

The department front pages should maintain the look and feel of the District homepage – the connection to the District should be obvious.  Links to the main website’s “home” must be included at the bottom of main pages, and the District’s logo must be included at the top of main front pages of each department.

School-Level

The Building Principal is ultimately responsible for his or her respective school’s webpages, but may appoint a staff member as the school webmaster to fulfill the maintenance, reviewing, and uploading tasks.  The Building Principal shall keep the District webmaster informed of who is the school webmaster.  All official material originating from the school will be consistent with the District style and content guidelines.  The Building Principal or school webmaster may develop guidelines for the various sections of and contributors to the school’s web pages.

Staff-Level

Any teacher or other staff member wanting to create web pages for use in class activities or to provide a resource for other teachers or staff members shall notify the school webmaster of his or her desired publishing activities.

Student-Level

A student wanting to create web pages on the District’s website as part of a class or school-sponsored activity should request a teacher or staff member to sponsor the student’s publishing efforts.  The sponsoring teacher or staff member shall notify the school webmaster of the desired publishing activities.  The student’s web page must include an introduction written by the sponsor that describes the intent of the student’s web page and contains the sponsor’s District email address.  Student web pages will be removed at the end of the school year unless special arrangements are made.

Personal web pages are not allowed on the School District’s web server. Likewise, student web pages may not contain commercial or advertising links, including links to games and advertisements for games.

CROSS REF.:    6:235 (Access to Electronic Networks)

ADMIN. PROC.:    5:170-AP1 (Administrative Procedure - Copyright Compliance), 6:235-AP1 (Administrative Procedure – Acceptable Use of the District’s Electronic Networks), 6:235-AP1, E1 (Exhibit – Student Authorization for Access to the District’s Electronic Networks), 6:235-AP1, E2 (Exhibit – Staff Authorization for Access to the District’s Electronic Network), 6:235-E3 (Exhibit - Online Privacy Statement)

UPDATED:    October 2016