MILLIS PUBLIC SCHOOLS WEB PAGE PUBLISHING POLICY
4.21.10
Introduction
The Web Site of the Millis Public School, www.millis.k12.ma.us, is a public
relations instrument of the Millis School Committee and the District, the purpose of
which is to have the District share information with students, parents, and community
members of events and to have the District showcase the accomplishments of students
and staff. It should be understood by anyone producing web pages that there should be
no expectation of First Amendment rights with respect to the content of the web
pages.
The District Web Master provides network access for the creation and maintenance
of web pages. Creators of web pages are responsible for familiarizing themselves
with, and adhering to. the following procedures and responsibilities. Failure to
follow this policy may result in the loss of posting privileges. Other disciplinary
action may be taken if appropriate.
Subject Matter
All subject matter on web pages must relate to general information that is
determined to be appropriate by each Principal (see monitoring section below) and of
interest to others, information that is related to school sponsored activities, or
information that is related to curriculum and instruction. Web pages may not be used
for political or religious purposes or for furthering the interests of private
businesses or individuals.
Staff or students may not publish personal web pages as part of the District Web
Site. Web pages for other individuals or organizations may not be published as part
of the Millis Public Schools' Web Site. Staff or students may publish only
information that relates to a class project, course activity, or other school related
activity.
Content
The content of the web pages must adhere to the information above relative to
subject matter. All content must be in good taste.
a. Web pages may not contain any student or staff e-mail addresses or address
links.
b. Web pages may not include information of a confidential nature such as a
student's last name, home address, telephone number, individual test scores, a staff
member's home address, or a staff member's home telephone number.
c. No pictures of students under 18 years of age may be published without the
written consent of the student's parent or guardian.
d. No pictures of individuals 18 years of age or older may be published without
the written consent of those individuals.
e. No diagrams of school facilities may be published.
f. No political or religious opinions may be published. Political opinions
include, but are not limited to, opinions relative to educational pedagogy such as
guided reading, flexible grouping, homogeneous grouping, etc.
g. No information contributing to commercial or personal gain may be
published.
h. Web pages should not contain so many graphics, sounds, or movies that the page
takes an inordinate time to load. A general rule is "if a site takes longer than one
minute to load using a 56k modem, the multimedia content needs to be scaled
back."
i. All content, including graphics, sounds, and video must adhere to copyright
regulations. All graphics, sounds, and video must conform.to the formats currently
approved by the District Webmaster.
j. No links to staff, volunteer, or student personal web pages may be
published.
k. No links to "non-official" Millis Public Schools' web sites that are hosted on
remote / external (non-district) web servers (i.e. PTO pages, athletic booster pages,
etc.) are permitted.
l. No chat rooms, message boards, etc. are permitted on the web pages.
m. Links to sites that are not accessible inside the network (through the Millis
Public Schools' filtering system) are not permitted.
n. No actions or conduct that may be construed as illegal or unethical, including
the use of the link to gain unauthorized access to other systems on the network. All
individuals accessing the school district's web site are prohibited from the
following: using the District's web site for any personal use without permission
(i.e. to send an e-mail and / or access another Internet site); using any profane,
threatening, libelous, or criminal language when using the site for District
business; accessing any prohibited sites on the Internet; overriding or encouraging
anyone to override any firewalls established on the Internet access network;
permitting another individual to use their password. dissemination of any passwords,
codes, access telephone numbers, or account numbers; and / or any other action
whatsoever which would in any way subject the employee and / or employer to a
possible criminal or civil actions. The foregoing list is not all-inclusive and the
District reserves the right to notify a user of any other impermissible action
regarding the use of the web site.
Quality
All web page material should be free of spelling and grammatical errors. Documents
may not contain objectionable material or link directly to objectionable
material.
Monitoring
Each principal shall form an advisory committee consisting of two members of the
professional staff and two parents to review content on a regular basis. These
individuals may be members of the School Council if the Principal so chooses. This
advisory committee shall make recommendations to the Principal relative to documents
that are inappropriate for the web site. The Principal shall consider the advice of
his / her advisory council. However, the Principal shall have the final decision
making responsibility in this matter. He/she shall have the right and responsibility
to require the removal of any material that he/she feels is inappropriate.
Editing
Only those individuals authorized by the school administration may edit the web
site.
Ownership and Retention
All web pages on the District server(s) are the property of the Millis Public
Schools. Web pages will be deleted when the staff member who created them has left
the school district unless prior arrangements have been made with the Web Master.
a. The authorized staff member who is publishing the final web pages will edit and
test the pages for accuracy and check for conformance with standards as outlined in
this policy.
b. The District Web Master shall approve the placement of all web pages on the
district server.
c. Final decisions regarding access to active web pages for editing content or
organization will rest with the Principals, the Web Master, and the Superintendent of
Schools.
Other
No staff member shall direct students to his / her personal, non-district web
site.
Disclaimer
The Millis School Committee and the Millis Public Schools shall not be held
responsible for the content of any other web site, including web sites that may be
linked from the District Site.
Complaint Process
Any concern relative to the contents of the Millis Public Schools' Web Site should
be directed to the appropriate Principal. The appropriate Principal will investigate
the issue and take appropriate action, if any. The Principal will indicate to the
referring individual what action, if any, has been taken.
School Committee First Reading: August 5. 2003
School Committee Second Reading: waived August 26. 2003
School Committee Approved: August 26, 2003