California Department of Education
721 Capitol Mall: P.O. Box 944272
Sacramento, CA 94244-2720
TO: County
Superintendents
District
Superintendents
FROM: Harvey
Hunt, Deputy Superintendent
Curriculum
and Instructional Leadership Branch
SUBJECT: Suggested Policy:
Acceptable Use of Electronic Information Resources
County, district, and school use of electronic information services is expanding exponentially in California and elsewhere, and while no one doubts the enormous educational value of these systems, protection of students is a paramount concern. Pornography, solicitation, racism, sexism, inappropriate language, and other abuses are not merely "possibilities," they are unfortunate concomitants of a revolutionary technology that is opening the windows of the world to students in the classroom and in the school library.
It is essential that every school, district, and county develop policies that clearly specify how students and staff can be responsible users of information systems. Because student needs and resources vary considerably from school to school, it is not our intent to prescribe specific "one size fits all" policies. Therefore, attached to this memo are suggested policy statements that may serve as contract prototypes for your county, district, or schools. They cover many of the salient issues relating to the use of electronic information systems. You may want to add additional provisions and modify them to fit circumstances unique to you and the electronic system(s) you employ. We suggest that you consult with your own legal advisor before adopting any of the suggested policy statements.
Because the information about the acceptable use of electronic information resources is important to your principals, we hope that you will make this memo and the suggested policy available to them. This information is also available on the California Department of Education's gopher server that can be accessed by going to www.cde.ca.gov. Should you have any questions about the attachments (one deals with district guidelines, the other a school/student-user contract), please do not hesitate to call Pete Kneedler, Consultant, Educational Technology Office, Research, Evaluation, and Technology Division, California Department of Education at 916-657-4615.
