Friday, June 14, 2002
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Friday, June 14, 2002 |
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School board updates Internet rules By JOHN
THOMPSON Coweta County now has a new Internet policy. The policy was approved during Tuesday night's meeting of the Coweta County Board of Education and will update, codify and make uniform the practices and procedures already in place in Coweta County schools, said David Thibadeau, Director of Information Technology for the Coweta County School System. "Aside from making our current procedures official policy, it will update us to reflect the newest technologies and will bring us into compliance with CIPA the federal Children's Internet Protection Act," said Thibadeau. "The main goal of CIPA and our proposed policy is to protect students from harmful material on the Internet," said Thibadeau. Generally, the policy and current procedures accomplishes that by requiring adult supervision when students use the Internet, restricting student use if they abuse the use of the Internet, and establishing electronic filters to block inappropriate content from school computers. Information technology services has already used such filters for the past year. Several areas are addressed in the proposed policy, including: Access by minors to inappropriate matter on the Internet and World Wide Web. The safety and security of minors when using electronic mail, chat rooms, and other forms of direct electronic communications. Unauthorized access, including so-called "hacking," and other unlawful activities by minors online. Unauthorized disclosure, use, and dissemination of personal information regarding minors. Measures designed to restrict minors' access to materials harmful to minors. The policy, including the Student Authorized Use Policy and the Faculty Authorized Use Policy, three procedural drafts which implement the policy, and a link to CIPA have been posted on the Coweta County Schools Web site at www.coweta.k12.ga.us/cipa.
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