Romulus School District

Romulus District 1:1 Chromebook Implementation Guide Receipt of Chromebook

Chromebooks will be distributed. Parents, guardians, and students must sign the Chromebook agreement before Chromebooks can be issued to their child. This policy outlines procedures and policies for families to protect the Chromebook investment for the district. Access to the Romulus District Technology resources is a privilege and not a right. Each employee, student and/or parent will be required to follow the District Acceptable Use Policy

Chromebooks will be collected at the end of each school year. Instructions will be given at a later date. Students leaving the district must return Chromebooks to the Technology Department. Any chromebook that is not returned will be considered stolen property, and law enforcement will be notified.

Student Owned Devices

Student devices are not supported for instructional purposes.

Appropriate Use

The Romulus Central School District views the use of electronic resources as central to the delivery of its educational program and expects that all students will use electronic resources as an essential part of their learning experiences. It is the policy of the Romulus Central School District to maintain an environment that promotes ethical and responsible conduct in all electronic resource activities.

General Guidelines

• Use of the Chromebook and system must support education.
• All regulations are in effect before, during, and after school hours, for all chromebooks.
• Headphones may be used at the discretion of the teacher.

General Reminders: In School

• 1. All use of technology must comply with the District Policy as well as the Acceptable Use Policy.
  2. Student in whose name a Chromebook is issued will be responsible at all times for its appropriate use.
  3. All use of the Internet must comply with district guidelines. Log files are maintained on each Chromebook with a detailed history of all sites accessed. These files may be reviewed periodically.
  4. All Chromebooks contain a remote content filter for use outside of school.
  5. Teachers are responsible for monitoring student Chromebook use at school, especially Internet access.
  6. Students who identify or know about a security problem are expected to convey the details to their teacher without discussing it with other students.
  7. Students are expected to notify a staff member immediately if they come across information, images or messages that are inappropriate, dangerous, threatening, or make them feel uncomfortable.
  8. All users are expected to comply with existing copyright laws.
  9. Students may only log in under their assigned user name. Students may not share their password with other students.
  10. Students are responsible for charging the Chromebook battery each day.
  11. Students are expected to care for the Chromebook. If a Chromebook is deemed to be intentionally damaged by a student, the student may be subject to discipline.
  12. Students are expected to report any damage to their chromebook immediately. Spot inspections of Chromebooks will occur regularly. Students who do not report damage or abuse will be subject to both fines and discipline.
  13. Students are expected to keep track of all equipment issued to them. If components are lost, the student/parent will be responsible for the full cost of replacement.
  14. Students may not loan Chromebook components to other students for any reason. Students who do so are responsible for any loss of components.
  15. Educational Games may be used at the discretion of the teacher.
  16. All students have access to their Google drive on which to store data. It is the responsibility of the student to see to it that critical files are backed up regularly to this location.
  17. The district will cooperate fully with local, state, or federal officials in any investigation concerning or relating to violations of computer crime laws.   

  General Reminders: At Home

  1. District web filters are active at home, just as they are at school.
  2. The use of Chromebooks at home is encouraged.
  3. Chromebook care at home is as important as at school.
  4. Transport your Chromebook in a case or protected backpack.

   

Terms of Use

Acceptable Use Policy
All users of the RCSD system and equipment must comply at all times with the Romulus Central School District Student Use of Computerized Information Resources - including Acceptable Use Policies and Parent/Student Agreement form, which you and your parents sign. Any failure to comply may end your right of possession effective immediately. You may also be subject to disciplinary action.

Liability
If the property is not returned or is intentionally damaged, the student is responsible for the cost of repair or the replacement value on the date of the loss. In the case of theft, a police report must be filed within 48 hours and provided to the school, the building principal and the Technology Services Department. Failure to report the theft to the proper staff and follow the proper filing procedure will result in a full fine to the student. If the Chromebook is lost because of negligence, the student is responsible for the full replacement cost of the Chromebook.

Repossession
Failure to fully comply with all terms of this agreement and the Student/Parent Agreement Form may result in the confiscation of the Chromebook by the District at any time. Unsupervised Chromebooks will be confiscated by staff. Disciplinary action may be taken for leaving your Chromebook in an unsupervised location.

Scheduled and Unscheduled Evaluations
Spot inspections of the Chromebooks will occur regularly by technical support staff. Some of the inspections will be scheduled through email and others will take place via remote connection to the Chromebook. Students with damaged Chromebooks who fail to report the damage will be subject to fines and to discipline. Students with inappropriate content or programs will be subject to discipline and may also be fined.

Chromebook Rules and Regulations

Violations of these rules and guidelines will result in disciplinary action.

Acceptable Use Guidelines

The guidelines are provided here so that students and parents are aware of the responsibilities students accept when they use district-owned computer hardware, operating system software, application software, stored text, data files, electronic mail, local databases, CD-ROMs, digitized information, and internet access. In general, this requires efficient, ethical and legal utilization of all technology resources.

Chromebook Use and Care

• Always carry your Chromebook closed and by the handle .
• Use caution when carrying your Chromebook in a crowded hallway. Carry it by the handle or with two hands never swing the Chromebook around.
• No food or drink should be near Chromebooks
• When moving the Chromebook use two hands. Do not pick it up by the monitor.
• Close the Chromebook lid whenever you are not using or moving it around.
• Never leave the Chromebook unattended in the hallway or any other public space for any reason.
• When placing your Chromebook in a locker, never pile items on top of your Chromebook.
• When placing your Chromebook on a table or desk, gently position it on the surface. Do not slam/swing the Chromebook onto the surface. Center the Chromebook on desks or tables to avoid it being bumped and falling to the floor.
• Lock your Chromebook when it is not in use.
• When moving between classes, put your computer on Standby.
• When leaving for the day, completely shut down your Chromebook.
• If at all possible, do not leave your Chromebook in the car. If you must leave it, lock it in the trunk or somewhere out of view.
• Protect your Chromebook from exposure to extreme heat or cold. This includes when leaving it in a vehicle.

Students are prohibited from:

• Putting stickers on the Chromebooks, batteries, or chargers.
• Defacing RCSD issued equipment in any way. This includes, but is not limited to marking, painting, drawing or marring any surface of the Chromebooks. If such action occurs, the student will be fined the cost of repair.

Network Etiquette

• Be polite; messages typed in capital letters on the computer are equivalent to shouting and are considered rude.
• Use appropriate language; swearing, vulgarity, ethnic or racial slurs, and any other inflammatory language are prohibited.
• Pretending to be someone else when sending/receiving messages is considered inappropriate.
• Transmitting obscene messages or pictures is prohibited.
• Revealing personal addresses or phone numbers of the user or others is prohibited.
• Using the network in such a way that would disrupt the use of the network by other users is prohibited.

Music/Movies: At School

Listening to music on your Chromebook is not allowed on the Chromebook during school hours without permission from the teacher.

Games: At School

Online gaming is not allowed during school hours unless you have been given permission by a teacher. Games deemed inappropriate may result in disciplinary action.

Desktop Backgrounds

Students will have the ability to customize their desktop background by selecting one of the preloaded themes or images. They may also choose to use the standard background. Beyond that, students may not change the desktop background.

• Inappropriate media may not be used as a desktop background. In addition, changing wallpaper means downloading pictures, which is prohibited and will result in disciplinary action.
• Presence of guns, weapons, pornographic materials, inappropriate language, alcohol, drugs, and/or gang related symbols will result in disciplinary action, or loss of Chromebook privileges.

Printing

Ultimately the district would like be to go paperless. All printing will be at the discretion of the teacher.

E-Mail

• E-mail is to be used as a communication tool for school. One of the most common violations of the Acceptable Use guidelines by students is the sending of social or non-school related e-mail.
  E-mail should be used for educational purposes only.
• E-mail transmissions, stored data, transmitted data, or any other use of online services by students, employees or other users is not confidential and may be monitored by staff at any time to ensure appropriate use.
• All e-mail and all contents are property of the District.
• Classroom-based compliance checks may be conducted at any time. This means that teachers can check your e-mail.

Examples of Unacceptable Use

The following list covers the answers to some of the most frequently asked questions as well as the most common violations. This is not a comprehensive list.
Unacceptable conduct includes, but is not limited to the following:

1. Using the network for illegal activities, including copyright, license or contract violations, downloading inappropriate materials, viruses, and/or software, such as but not limited to hacking and host file sharing software.
2. Using the network for financial or commercial gain, advertising, or political lobbying.
3. Accessing or exploring on-line locations or materials that do not support the curriculum and/or are inappropriate for school assignments, such as but not limited to pornographic sites.
4. Vandalizing and/or tampering with equipment, programs, files, software, system performance or other components of the network. Use or possession of hacking software is strictly prohibited.
5. Causing congestion on the network or interfering with the work of others, e.g., chain letters or broadcast messages to lists or individuals.
6. Gaining unauthorized access anywhere on the network.
7. Revealing the home address or phone number of one’s self or another person.
8. Invading the privacy of other individuals.
9. Using another user’s account, password, or allowing another user to access your account or password.
10. Coaching, helping, observing or joining any unauthorized activity on the network.
11. Forwarding/distributing E-mail messages without permission from the author.
12. Posting anonymous messages or unlawful information on the system.
13. Engaging in sexual harassment or using objectionable language in public or private messages, e.g., racist, terroristic, abusive, sexually explicit, threatening, stalking, demeaning or slanderous.
14. Falsifying permission, authorization or identification documents.
15. Obtain copies of, or modify files, data or passwords belonging to other users on the network.
16. Knowingly placing a computer virus on a computer or network.
17. Attempting to access or accessing sites blocked by the RCSD filtering system.
18. Downloading music, games, images, videos, or other media without the permission of a teacher.
19. Sending or forwarding social or non-school related e-mails.

Technology Discipline
The discipline policies at each school have been revised to encompass the one-to-one environment. The privilege of having a computer comes with a new set of responsibilities and new consequences. The Technology Discipline Hierarchy has a common structure district-wide. These are explained in this section. Please reference the materials specific to each building for specific details or contact the school directly.

1. The Technology Discipline Hierarchy applies to all RCSD technology, not just Chromebook computers. This includes, but is not limited to SMARTBoards, document cameras, projectors, desktop computers, printers, mice, digital cameras, etc.
2. Discipline is progressive. Low-level, first-time infractions will have a lesser consequence than infractions that are repetitive or more serious in nature.
3. Classroom interventions will be the first level of discipline. This includes verbal warnings, seating changes, and teacher contact with home.
4. Discipline progresses in levels. Consequences include in-school detentions, after-school detentions, assignments that re-teach or reinforce correct behaviors, restricted computer access, office referrals, and suspensions.
5. Compliance checks may be conducted on a student’s computer at any time. These may be school- wide checks or conducted individually due to suspicion of inappropriate computer usage.
6. RCSD may remove a user’s access to the network without notice at any time if the user is engaged in any unauthorized activity.

Chromebook Security

Each of the Chromebooks are managed by RCSD. We have tried to strike a balance between usability of the equipment, and appropriate security to prevent the units from being damaged or used to cause damage to the Romulus Central School District system. Two primary forms of security exist:

Desktop Security

Security is in place on the desktop to prevent and/or track certain activities. These include downloading or installing software on the Chromebooks, removing software, changing system settings, etc.

Filtering/Monitoring Software

RCSD maintains an Internet filtering/monitoring solution. This program automatically filters all student access to the Internet and monitors student activities on the computer both in school and at home. Please note, however, that there is no better security tool than an involved adult!

Damaged Equipment

Repairs

Occasionally, unexpected problems do occur with the Chromebooks that are not the fault of the user (computer crashes, software errors, etc.). The Technology Services Department is prepared to assist students in resolving these issues. These issues will be remedied at no cost.

Loaner Chromebooks – “Hot Spares”

Temporary replacements, known as a Hot Spares, are also available in the Technology Department so that student learning is not disrupted by the repair process. Students are responsible for the care of the spare while it is issued to them. All of the same rules and regulations apply to spare computers, and students are expected to treat them as if they were their own. Students are required to save to their Google Drive in case they need to be issued a Spare.

Accidental Damage vs. Negligence

Accidents do happen. There is a difference, however, between an accident and negligence. The price that the district paid for the Chromebook includes: the Chromebook, and a one year warranty. The Chromebook warranty will cover normal wear and tear along with other damage that might occur during normal use of the Chromebook. After investigation by school administration, if the Chromebook is deemed to be intentionally or negligently damaged by the student, the student may be subject  to discipline and the cost of repair or replacement and a swap will not be provided.

Lost or Stolen Equipment

In this section, “equipment” refers to Chromebooks, chargers and cases. Chromebooks and other equipment are issued as an educational resource. The conditions surrounding this equipment can be equated to those of a textbook or a school issued calculator. Students are expected to keep track of and to care for this equipment for the time period it is issued to them. Students/families may be fined for damaged or lost equipment.