La
CIPA (Children's Internet
Protection Act) and Internet Safety Policy
Since the Internet was made available in the classroom
during 1997, La Vernia Independent School District has undertaken a series of actions
designed to insure the safety of our children while accessing the
Internet. These actions, in accordance
with the educational purpose of all La Vernia ISD educational technology, are
designed to prevent students from accessing inappropriate or illicit content
and to protect the privacy and safety of our students and staff.
La Vernia ISD informs all students and employees of the
appropriate and acceptable use of technology, and the consequences of
inappropriate use of technology, through the Acceptable Use Policy (AUP). This
policy is distributed to all students and employees, with acceptance
acknowledged in writing by the student, parents or employee before any access
to educational technology or the Internet is allowed.
Permission to broadcast the images of students via Distance
Learning, Streaming Web-Based Video and/or the Internet is obtained through the
Distance Learning/Video Release Form distributed with the AUP in the enrollment
package.
Information posted on District websites is governed by the
Acceptable Posting Policy (APP). As more
teachers and students produce content for web pages, the APP has been designed
to inform all students and employees as to appropriate content to be placed on
web pages for worldwide distribution via the Internet. In addition to providing guidelines for
acceptable web page content, the APP also protects student’s privacy by
insuring that any student’s work posted on a web page is posted either with
first name only, or a class or student number so that a student’s full name
cannot be used by an outsider to appear familiar with a student. Additionally, the APP insures that student’s
addresses and other personal information do not accidentally get posted on the
web through imbedded information such as file names or hyperlinks to personal
home pages.
La Vernia ISD has always provided content filtering to guard
against student access to inappropriate or illicit web content. In an effort to provide better local
filtering control as well as more accountability and better tracking of
attempts to violate the AUP, La Vernia ISD implemented the LightSpeed Enterprise
content filtering system. This filter
prevents bypass by students, and is housed and controlled locally, lowering
access fees while allowing us to respond more quickly to student and teacher
needs. Each student and teacher logs in
to the network his or her own private user name and password, and LightSpeed
uses this data to track violations and log the time and user name of the
violator, facilitating AUP violation enforcement. While no filter can block 100% of the
inappropriate content on the web, LightSpeed is rated as one of the most
effective filters available and uses a downloaded library list of denied or
forbidden sites, updated nightly to keep up with the proliferation of
inappropriate and illicit web sites.
There is also a locally created override list of acceptable and denied
sites. Access restrictions are
customizable by group or by grade level to insure students have access to
materials that are age appropriate and in the context of the student’s current
curriculum.
The proliferation of viruses via the Internet, e-mail and
other media is controlled through regularly updated virus protection software
from McAfee. This
guards against viruses and worms that may damage data stores or disrupt
network operation.
To keep outside “hackers” from breaching our servers and
systems and obtaining private information, La Vernia ISD utilizes a Cisco PIX
Internet Firewall. This firewall only
allows authorized users from the outside to connect to our secure servers, and
helps insure that only authorized individuals have access to student and
employee data.
Finally, any backup media containing student or employee
information are stored in secure, locked locations, and are overwritten with
invalid data or otherwise physically destroyed before
disposal, just as paper documents are shredded.
La Vernia ISD has always put a premium on the safety and
security of our students. The dangers of
revealing information to strangers over the Internet is discussed with students
as they begin to access District technology. The District is committed to
providing a safe, enjoyable, technology-enhanced learning environment designed
to prepare all students for the workplace of tomorrow.
If you any questions regarding La Vernia ISD’s compliance
with CIPA or Internet safety, please contact