Thanks to all who responded to my request on how your Acceptable Use
Policies were distributed and tracked, especially at the elementary level.
My question focused on whether or not the complete policy was sent home,
signed and returned, or if it was included in the handbook with a signed
response required, and/or is this done every year or once during the
student's tenure at the school. Here are the replies I received. I
appreciate everyone taking the time to respond.
Ann Arpin
Elementary LMS
Walpole, MA
Arpina4@attbi.com
We send it home in the before-school packet with lots of other things that
need signing. We do it every year to heighten awareness of the policy (a
6th grader that signed it in K is not going to remember anything about it)
and because, as a college town, we have a rather mobile population. Since
most students do turn in the policy we mark those that do not have
permission to use computers on our registers.
______________________________________
Ours goes to new students only - returning students do not redo
It includes a column of specific yes or no re: level of use signed by
parent
We have a full time tech coor and she has an assistant (we have 1600 K-8
kids and about 600 computers) keeping up the database and setting the log on
network privileges according to level of use allowed by parents is her job.
(the media asst. and I have enough data to take care of with circ and
reading counts) The form stays with the child's data through 8th grade
unless the parent signs a change in writing. Seems like it will work until
technology forces us to change the form....probably in 6 months. Anyway,
I will try to forward the doc to you from my school tomorrow.
______________________________________________________
Only new students get it here. They stay on file.
At the present time, our Acceptable Use Policy packet is given to the
Freshmen when they come in for Orientation classes at the beginning of their
first year. These are sent home and both parents and students sign the one
sheet and return it to their English teachers (the class that is used for
this orientation) and then given to me to keep. We keep them the entire
time they are students here.
A couple of problems I have:
- We get new students and if I don't get the names right away, I can't get
a policy to them to be signed. A few have slipped through the cracks this
way each year. Our system here in the library is not linked to the
administrative system as yet.
- At the beginning of the year, I don't get the list of current students
until about 4 weeks into the school year. This means I can't get my records
corrected until about the 5th or 6th week.
I want to include our Acceptable Use Policy in our student handbook, even
though it would be a bit bulky at the present time, and have the sign sheet
sent home with the other forms that must be signed each year - sports,
health,etc. Then I could get them from the home room teachers and file
them. In this way I would be less likely to miss new students at the
beginning of the year.
___________________________________________
Our acceptable use policy is sent home at the end of summer to each student
and they must have a signed (by parent and child) slip returned to the
school before they have use of our computers. Our thinking is that if they
don't sign off every year on it, they won't remember it. Half the time they
don't remember signing it anyway but we can pull it out if needed. Our
computer department is responsible for making sure every sheet is returned.
We include our AUP in our student handbook at the high school. No signature
is
required, we treat it just like it were any other law of the land. "I didn't
know" does not work as a defense for any violation or infraction be it minor
or
serious. Our response is, "You received the handbook, it was your
responsibility to read it.
It seems that it should only have to be signed once by parents granting
permission. After that, it seems time-consuming and redundant (for you and
them). Our district is going to a philosophy of the "Internet is a tool" and
it is something that will be used. We haven't completed this yet, but it is
in the works to have it set up so that those who sign are those who refuse
and those who don't sign are considered to have permission.
I do however see value in reinforcing with the children yearly, the
importance of following the guidelines and rules of the policy. Kids can
quickly forget what they've been told. If you know they are being reminded
of it each year, there is no excuse for violating any of the policies. I
think this review should be done on a class's first trip to the computer lab
for the year--probably by the classroom teacher, possibly by the lab aide,
and as a last resort in a reminder orientation from the librarian.
Just my musings for the day.
After kids hand in their AUP's, I create a laminated "Internet Driver's
License" (hey, this is a HS -- license concept really works with these
folks!) that they have to display when on the Net. I keep the paperwork so
that if they lose the card, it's easy for me to create a replacement for
them.
This is just how I made the process sane for me.
We just started this year using a AUP, we finally have enough computers to
justify them.
My idea was to have every child & parent sign them this year and then file
the signed agreement in the child's "permanent" record. As the student
changed buildings within the district a new agreement would be required to
keep it fresh. (from the k-4 to middle to high school 3 signatures rather
than 13). I think if the parents had to sigh it every year they would just
sign it and not read it. I suggested also having a copy in the student
handbook for parental reference.
We have it down to one page, front and back, the student and the parent have
to sign and date it.
They are sent out through the classroom teachers and then are given to the
librarians to change the perferences so the student has access.
We usually run about 98% so don't make the students have a sticker or a
punch on their ASB card. Nice for us.
We only ask students to sign it once. Some of the schools in our district
have close to 3000 students and doing it every year is impossible. I would
love to see it as a regular part of the student manual not requiring a
signature but the board rejected that idea last year. For some teachers
Internet resources are a regular part of the curriculum and having some
students not sign creates big headaches. We don't make students agree in
writing to any other school rules so I don't see why computers are any
different. I think the concept of "in loco parentis" gives schools the
right to dictate rules and expect kids t obey them whether they agree or
not.
Our district has every student and parent sign the paper every year. Our
computer lab teacher keeps the forms, and notes (for herself and the
classroom teacher) anyone who may not have permission to use the Internet.
(In our school, all use is in the lab and the classroom; the only time a
student uses the Internet on the floor of the media center is with an
adult.)
In the past I had to keep track of who had turned permissions in, and I did
so on the circulation system with a user-defined field on the patron
information screen. It was easy to pull up a list at any time, or to check
an individual student.
Some of my friends in other schools have a sticker on the library card or
student ID of any kid with permission to use the Internet. In several
schools the student must hand over his/her card in order to get a mouse to
use a computer.
Any way you look at it, it's not easy!
In our district the AUP is part of the student handbook. It is returned to
the classroom teacher. I don't even know who has returned it unless I
ask. Our school is very transient. With the number of students (1500 next
Before I do an Internet assignment, I ask the teacher who has/hasn't
the AUP signed. In grades 3-5, it is rare for a student not to have it
signed. I also remind them of it before they go on the Internet in the
media center.
We are a high school and they sign once for the 4 years they are here. The
middle school librarian also sends over any permissions from there. I agree
it's time consuming, and also keep in mind that students may sue you until
they're 21, so we keep the forms, even after graduation, for 4 years.
________________________
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