Selah Internet Use Policy & Your Safety (READ BEFORE POSTING)

Students, below is Selah School District’s Internet Publishing Policy. You should be familiar with this if you intend to contribute to this blog.

Upon reading this, you will see why I change all of your names to only initials. However, when you contribute posts please continue to write your full name so I can give you credit – then I will change your names to initials before your posts are published.

I have made every effort to make this a safe place for you to contribute to this page and I have been careful to ensure that all links from this page are school appropriate. If you ever find anything that seems out of place or inappropriate, PLEASE let me know so I can double check or make any changes necessary.

Selah School District No. 119INTERNET PUBLISHING POLICY (#2023)Adopted 8/31/00

Jump down to specific WEB PUBLISHING PROCEDURES

Goals

  1. To establish the Internet (World Wide Web) as an academic and application tool for student learning, as well as a teaching resource for educators.
  2. To create an effective communication tool for students, parents, teachers, local community, and the larger educational community.
  3. To publish exemplary student work as a resource for other students, a celebration of student achievement, and a source of school pride.

Acceptable Posting CriteriaAll material posted to a SSD web page must:

  1. Be appropriate (as related to the goals stated above).
  2. Place acceptable demands on computing and network services.
  3. Project a positive image of the Selah School District.
  4. Protect the safety of students, staff, and their families.

Specific Web Page Guidelines

  1. All pages posted must be in compliance with copyright laws.
  2. All web pages must be in compliance with District policies and applicable laws, both state and federal.
  3. All pages must have a direct relationship to identified student learning targets or other District goals.
  4. Staff members may only publish student work, names, or photographs in electronic form inside a Selah School District Web page. Exceptions must be approved in writing by the District Web Manager.
  5. All materials displayed on a Web page must be approved by a District authorized Web manager or other designee before being published on the Internet.
  6. Parent and student permission forms must be signed prior to publishing the student’s work (project, essay, art, etc.), identifiable student photograph, or name on the SSD Web Site. Forms must be filed with the building Web Manager.
  7. In grades K-7 no student’s last name may be used, but first name with last initial is acceptable. In grades 8-12, last names may be used. At all grade levels, parent permission is required for a name to be displayed.
  8. Family privacy must be protected. Student work should not reveal home address, home phone, e-mail address, other family details, or overly personal information.
  9. Web pages requiring excessive system resources or network bandwidth or that hamper the efficient operation of the SSD web site must be shut down or improved.
  10. Personal home pages are not to be provided for individual students or staff, especially pages that are “live” on the Internet or available through the extranet (stored on the Internet server but completely unlinked). Classroom home pages are permitted.
  11. Student e-mail addresses must not be displayed, but e-mail links to the supervising teacher may be provided on student work pages for external feedback.
  12. Each building’s menu page that links to ALL “live” student projects is to display a prominent statement such as
    “All student work posted at this site is related to identified student learning targets, was developed under the supervision of a teacher, and has been approved, based on District guidelines, by the teacher and (Building) Web Manager. If you have concerns about any student-created documents, please contact the (Building) Web Manager (by email hot link) or phone (509-697-0XXX). “

Web Page Responsibilities

  1. The District Web Master provides inservice, technical assistance, and District consistency/continuity in its web presence. The District Web Master has the right and responsibility to edit or remove any web pages not conforming to District guidelines or to request that appropriate page changes be made by Building Web Manager, teachers, or students.
  2. Building Web Managers support the Web Master by creating building level pages and providing web page development assistance for projects which classroom teachers have monitored and screened for approval. Each Building Web Manager acting alone, or as chair of a Building Web Page Review Committee, must approve student work, based on District guidelines, before it can be published “live” on the Internet with links from District or building web pages.
  3. The Web Team is a group of students under direct supervision of a faculty or staff member with the responsibility for establishing and maintaining portions of the District or building web site. The team could include a student leader or “Web Editor,” writers, web proofers, graphic artists, and technicians.
  4. The District Technology Committee establishes guidelines and criteria for work to be posted (e.g. grammar, punctuation, content, etc.).

Secure Development of Web PagesWeb pages will be developed in a non-public and secure manner, using one of the following three methods only. Web pages (even during development) should be stored in folders, which have names that do not include a student’s last name:1) EXTRANET: Work in progress is stored in the appropriate location on the real web server (www.selah.k12.wa.us), BUT pages must be completely unlinked to any “live page” (thus disconnected from the web), until they are finalized and approved. This would be especially useful in situations where home access to evaluate or proofread the page is desirable and appropriate. Access to documents in the folder must be protected by “NT” permissions, specifically assigned by the technology support staff .

2) INTRANET: Work in progress is to be stored in folders on the in-District-only web server (ssd.selah.k12.wa.us), with special attention given to making all internal document links “relative” instead of “absolute,” especially if the project is intended for later distribution via the Internet. Access to documents in the folder could be protected (at a teacher’s option) by “NT” permissions, specifically assigned by the technology support staff.

3) WORK STATION: Work in progress is to be stored in folders on removable media or a District hard drive with special attention given to making all internal document links “relative” instead of “absolute,” especially if the project is intended for later distribution via the Internet. (This option has the greatest potential for frustrating teachers, students, and Web Managers, due to the idiosyncrasies of page editors in dealing with link and image URLs.)

All work in progress (not yet approved for “live” distribution via the Internet) that is stored extranet (option 1) must display the specific following graphic disclaimer:

This page is under construction and has not yet been approved
by Selah School District for distribution via the Internet

Selah School District No. 119INTERNET PUBLISHING PROCEDURES (#2023P)Adopted 8/31/00

Jump up to main WEB PUBLISHING POLICY

Standards for Web Pages

  1. Excellence in design and function is encouraged.
  2. Accuracy is expected. Correct spelling, punctuation, grammar, dates, times, and locations are all vital to facilitate communication and project a professional image for the District. Pages displaying student work should show accuracy and perfection appropriate for that age and skill level.
  3. Information on pages should be updated in a timely manner. Date of modification or creation should be listed.
  4. External links must be appropriate for a school audience. The supervising teacher or Building Web Manager must visit and evaluate each link’s first page (and all subsequent links on that first page) for acceptable content. (Inclusion of a link will be viewed by most visitors as “implied endorsement” of that site by the District.)
  5. External and internal links should be checked regularly (for functionality and appropriate content) and updated or removed as needed.
  6. Bandwidth is not to be wasted. Download time should be minimized.
  7. The Main Web Page for a building should: A) Fit on one screen and require no scrolling to see all important information.

B) Be uncluttered, bright, and welcoming.

C) Include the school’s postal address, phone number, and an e-mail address of the Building Web Manager.

D) Contain a link back to the Selah Home Page.

E) Contain no more than one large graphic, which should not be larger than 2 x2 inches or 50 K.

F) Avoid “splash screens” and the use of icons as buttons.

G) Avoid the use of frames.

H) Contain no links to sites outside the District.

I) Be written assuming the audience includes:

        1. students needing to locate external resources quickly;
        2. students, parents, and a local community interested in internal curricular resources and student products; and
        3. visitors seeking information about the school and its activities.

8. Each subsidiary page for a building should be viewed as either a menu page or a content page (document).

A) Menu pages should be quick loading, simple, and logically organized, providing visitors with enough information to make a wise choice.

        1. Twelve to twenty categories are enough for most menu pages.
        2. Menus should generally avoid excessive scrolling or provide a “hot link” table of contents at the top.

B) Content pages should:

        1. Provide large graphics only by user request.
        2. Include a link back to its menu page or the main building page.
        3. Include a disclaimer whenever individuals may be expressing personal opinions not those of the school or District.
        4. Include name of supervising teacher (where applicable).
        5. Use easily readable font size and font face, with dark text on a light background or light text on a dark background (and avoid distracting background patterns on textual pages).

Suggestions for Successful Page Development

  1. Think before you create! Plan what you want to do, preferably on paper using a storyboard. Map out the hierarchical relationship between all necessary folders and documents. Focus on your intended audience.
  2. Use relative links and image URLs instead of absolute addresses.
      Example: You are linking from a menu page located in a folder named “Science” found in the High School folder. Your two options are:<A href=”Projects/Martha/photos.html”><A href=”http://www.selah.k12.wa.us/SHS/Science/Projects/Martha/photos.html”>

      The first example is the relative link, which is almost always a better choice in the long run. If you must use an absolute link, be sure to start with “http://” or “ftp://.”

  3. When naming web files and folders DO NOT USE:
    • Spaces in the name
    • Any character other than the alphabet, numbers and the underscore “__”
    • Long names (if possible)
  4. Use file naming conventions Web teams and classrooms can minimize link problems by avoiding the unnecessary nesting of folders (sub-directories) through carefully employing a thoughtful file-naming system agreed upon by all members of the web team.For example, all 1998 student art gallery files might begin with the code “A98″ and all 1999 state reports might begin with “SR99.” Likewise, all HTML pages and the related GIF or JPG images that are part of those pages might share the same name except the file extension. The code “X” could be given to tiny “thumbnail” copies of larger graphics. This would make it easy to store an entire team or classroom project in one folder and still identify each of the files, such as these created by students named George and Martha:
      A98george.htmlA98george.gifA98georgeX.gif

      A98martha.gif

      SR99george.html

      SR99george.jpg

      SR99martha.html

      SR99martha.jpg

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