Guide for Web Sites

The availability of Internet access in the William S. Hart Union High School District provides an opportunity for students and staff to contribute to the District's presence on the World Wide Web. The District's Web sites provide information to the world about school curriculum, instruction, school-authorized activities, and other general information relating to our schools and our District's mission.

The Hart District will post District, department (districtwide and school) level, school level, and classroom level (as appropriate) homepages on the Hart District World Wide Web server (http://www.hartdistrict.org). No additional World Wide Web/FTP servers will be permitted. Individual teacher and/or student Web sites that meet District guidelines may also be posted on the District's server. Individual (personal) Web sites focus on an individual person. Hart students, faculty, and administration will not use school or District resources to post personal Web sites.

Individuals placing information on the server must abide by all applicable District policies and all laws governing the use of the Internet. All home pages will adhere to and reflect current Hart District publishing and advertising policies and practices.

Any deliberate tampering with or misuse of District network services or equipment will be considered vandalism and will be handled in accordance with District policies.

To remain useful over time and to present an image consistent with the Hart District's position as an academic institution, all official information on our web server must be kept timely and accurate. Doing so requires that schools be accountable for the information that they choose to distribute via the Web.

Objectives of Web sites

All subject matter on Web sites should relate to curriculum, instruction, school-authorized activities, general information that is appropriate and of interest to others, or it should relate to the District, or the schools within the District. Therefore, neither staff nor students may publish personal home pages as part of the District Web Sites, or home pages for other individuals or organizations not directly affiliated with the District. Staff or student work may be published only as it relates to a class project, course, or other school-related

The Web site should provide information to parents and students and present a positive image of the school to the community.

Content Standards

Building and district administrators, with input from Library Media teachers, department chairpersons, Curriculum Council, and the Technology Department staff, are responsible for Web page approval.

Mission statement and other pertinent parts of strategic plan
General District calendar
News and announcements
DAC meeting schedule, agenda, minutes
Telephone book (office numbers and extensions)
General announcements (i.e., NetDay99)
Post-high School Planning Guide
Students' Rights and Responsibilities Handbook
Employment Opportunities
Link to school home pages; links to employee organization home pages; links to education sites
Bus schedules
Announcements of events and activities
Lunch menu
Governing Board meeting dates and agenda/minutes of meetings
Board policies, regulations, and guidelines

Mission statement and learning results (high schools)
School Accountability Report Card
Telephone book (office numbers and extensions)
Registration guide
School calendar including information on special events
School Accountability Report Card
PAC/SSC (and other groups) meeting schedule and agenda
School newsletter and newspaper (student name/picture permission issues have relevance here)
Links to web sites relevant to the curriculum of the school and district
Student work (with permission)
Clubs, sports, activities, teams, departments, homework

offer curriculum-matched resources created locally
show links to external sources of information on curriculum topics
introduce visitors to the school, classroom or community
provide information about assignments and class work, field trips, goals, rules, etc
allow for feedback on topics under study in the school program
provide local news to a wider audience
offer an activity or competition
include personal information related to teaching assignment

Material on Web pages reflects an individual faculty member's thoughts, interests, and activities. Such Web pages do not, in any way, represent individual schools or the Hart District, nor are they endorsed or sanctioned by the individual school or the District. Concern about the content of any page(s) created by students or staff should be directed to the building principal of that school.

The educational objectives of a student home page should be established or approved by the teacher.. Students must have permission in writing from their parent/guardian to post web pages to the district site.
Student Web sites might include

The following two statements

Copyright Notice: No material on any of the William S. Hart Union High School District pages may be copied without the express written permission of the site webmaster unless permission is clearly stated on the page.
Problems, comments and suggestions regarding this web site to: webteam@hart.k12.ca.us (using appropriate reply address).

a postal address and/or school phone number where problems can be reported through traditional means
the date the page was created and last modified

No personal information (pictures, e-mail addresses, home addresses, or phone numbers), photographs, not curricular work about faculty or students may be posted without written permission by the faculty member or parent/guardian of the student. (see Student Safeguards)

Published e-mail addresses are restricted to staff members or to general group e-mail address where arriving e-mail is forwarded to a staff member.

Advertising products and services shall be limited to brief statements acknowledging support and/or donations. See District's "Partners" page; note, we've added only small trademarks or logos to keep load time to a minimum. No other commercial material may be incorporated.

Proscribed Activities

There are several uses of the Web that can be universally forbidden on District supported accounts. These include:

commercial activities where staff or students are promoting activities from which individuals, groups or companies may profit financially or otherwise. This includes fund-raising or advertising for commercial of non-commercial organizations, except for District-related organizations and District-related events.
any use of pornographic, racist, sexist, defamatory or otherwise objectionable material
Faculty may not use the District's name in their Web sites that in any way implies District or school endorsement of other organizations, products, or services. They may not use District or school logos and trademarks on any Web sites not stored on the District's Web server and/or linked to the school or District's Web site.

Responsibility for Material Published

Due to limited personnel resources in schools, any attempt to police the contents and the links offered on home pages is not feasible. All must assume full legal and moral responsibility for the content of their Web sites. They must abide by all local, state, and federal laws that pertain to communication and to publishing. This includes laws of libel and copyright. Copyright law pertains to all published material, including cartoons, pictures, graphics, text, song lyrics, and sounds.

The creators of the pages, be they administrators, teachers, or students, must take the responsibility of seeking approval from their supervisors. In the case of objectionable material found in the content or the links, the creator must take prompt corrective action or lose account privileges.

The case of responsibility for a school or divisional home page involves additional criteria. In these cases, the site administrators should be given a printed copy or a demonstration of the page that represents their jurisdiction. Also, there should be just one official page per jurisdiction.

Quality

All Web page work must be free of spelling and grammatical errors. Documents may not contain objectionable material or point (link) directly to objectionable material. Objectionable material is defined as material that does not meet the standards for instructional resources specified in District policies. Regarding the question of quality or propriety of Web page material, appearance, or content, the judgment of the building or district administrators will prevail.

Recommended Features for Viewing Comfort

Design consideration should be given to multiple platforms, software, and equipment types and capabilities of the audience. Web site developers should be aware that users will be accessing information from a variety of hardware and software tools. Developers are encouraged to accommodate all levels of technology. Aim for fast loading that looks good on as many displays and software packages as possible.

There exist many guidelines for creating attractive and functional home pages. One such example is the Home Sweet Home site at http://www.fno.org/homesweet.html

include text links for any graphic or iconic links so that users in text mode may access the pages
provide links to downloadable plug-ins to view the types of files represented on the site
limit page length whenever possible
provide hypertext links within long text passages to allow for rapid movement from section to section
limit the number and size of graphics that are included in pages so that users with slow modems do not experience unpleasant waits
indicate beside file links the size of the file to be down loaded
include the URL (your Web address) in your page so that someone printing your page will have a reference for later use

Student Safeguards

A decision on including any portion of a student's name on the web site requires written parent/guardian permission. (See Permission Form-Name [Form under revision pending decision on policy lwr 6-14-00]). This information is tracked in the District's student information system and available to all staff members. While permission is given for the time the student is enrolled in the District, permission may be revoked by parents/guardians. As with permission, this request must be in writing. [Policy under reconsideration to allow first name without parent permission - unless revoked by the parent. lwr 6-14-00]
A decision on publishing student pictures (video or still), audio clips, and/or work requires written parent/guardian permission given individually for each occurrence. (see Permission Form-Other). Teachers must maintain the signed release from the legal guardian. Parents should be informed of the Web address (the URL) on which the photo or sound recording or course work will be posted. Individual schools may elect to discuss the issue and adopt more restrictive guidelines. [This paragraph is new and under consideration in policy revision. Lwr 6-14-00]

Web pages may not contain any student e-mail address links.
Documents may not include a student's phone number, address, names of other family members, or names of friends.
Web page documents may not include any information that indicates the physical location of a student at a given time, other than attendance at a particular school, or participation in activities.

Other

Given the rapid change in technology, some of the technical standards outlined in this policy may require change throughout the year. The District Technology Department will make such changes with approval of the Superintendent, or designee. This Web Page Policy will be updated on an annual basis, or more frequently if required.

Internet District, School, Faculty, and Student World Wide Web Homepage Guidelines