For parental peace of mind and the safety of our students enroute to school and home and off campus, students may bring phones to school and leave them in their backpacks turned off. A student who takes out his/her phone, has it on his/her person or uses it at any time during the school day without permission of administration will receive an automatic detention. Additionally, the phone will be taken by administration, the parent will be notified and the parent must pick up the phone in the office following a parent, student, principal conference. If a child needs to make a call during the school day it must be made from the school office on the school’s telephone with permission from the appropriate school staff member. St. Bernadette School does not assume responsibility for the loss, damage, or theft of personal cell phones. The school reserves the right to inspect the content of a student phone being used without permission on school grounds.
Students may not use their personal technology in school. This includes cell phones, wearable technology, computers, I-Pads, kindles...
A student who would use a mobile phone or computer to “sext”, “text”, blog or cause harm to another student or teacher may be subject to dismissal. The use of any social networking sites are discouraged for our students and use of them to harm another student or teacher’s reputation may lead to dismissal. At no time may a student use the name of St. Bernadette of Lourdes School on any website or social network site.
A student who would use a mobile phone or computer to take pictures while at school will lose his privilege to bring a phone to school.
Technology is a valuable and real-world educational tool. All Archdiocese of Philadelphia schools will educate all students about appropriate online behavior, including: interacting with other individuals on social networking websites and in chat rooms, cyber bullying awareness and response to ensure an appropriate use of technology, including video conferencing platforms. The policy outlined below applies to all technology use including but not limited to Internet use. The Responsible Use Policy for Technology (RUP) applies to all students, faculty, administrators, staff, volunteers or community members allowed access to school technology resources. In some cases, outside or personal uses of technology may be applicable under this policy.
SCOPE OF USE
We recognize that the digital world allows anytime, anywhere access. Uses mentioned in this policy apply to inside school use and may in certain instances apply to personal technology use and/or uses outside of school. Where personal and/or non-educational use of technology creates substantial disruption in school, including but not limited to harming or interfering with the rights of other students or teachers to participate fully in school or extracurricular activities, these activities may be viewed as a violation of the Responsible Use Policy and may be subject to the disciplinary measure found herein.
N.B. The types of electronic and digital communications referenced in this RUP include, but are not limited to, social networking sites, cell phones, mobile computers and devices, digital cameras, video conferencing platforms, text messaging, email, voice over IP, chat rooms, instant messaging, cloud, and web-based tools.
GOALS
The school’s goal is to prepare its members for a responsible life in a digital global community. To this end, the school will:
Integrate technology with curriculum to enhance teaching and learning.
Encourage critical thinking, communication, collaboration, creativity, and problem-solving skills.
Facilitate evaluation and synthesis of information.
Encourage ethical practices and provide education for Internet safety, digital citizenship and the creation of a positive digital identity.
Provide a variety of technology-based tools and related technology skills.
RESPONSIBILITIES OF USER
Our schools will make every effort to provide a safe environment for learning with technology including Internet filtering and safeguards. The students, faculty, administrators, staff, and school community are granted the privilege of using the computer hardware and software peripherals, and electronic communication tools including the Internet. With this privilege comes the responsibility for appropriate use.
In the Archdiocese of Philadelphia (AoP), we use information and technology in safe, legal, and responsible ways. We embrace the following conditions or facets of being a digital citizen.
Respect One’s Self: Responsible users will select online names that are appropriate and will consider the information and images that are posted online.
Respect Others: Responsible users will refrain from using technologies to bully, tease or harass other people.
Protect One’s Self and Others: Responsible users will protect themselves and others by reporting abuse and not forwarding inappropriate materials or communications. Users will protect their usernames and passwords by not sharing with others.
Respect Intellectual Property: Responsible users will suitably cite any and all use of websites, books, images, media, or other sources relied upon or used in work created.
Protect Intellectual Property: Responsible users will request permission to use the software and media others produce and abide by license agreements for all software and resources.
Under no circumstances is an AoP user authorized to engage in any activity that is illegal under local, state, federal or international law while utilizing AoP-owned resources, computers or networks.
TECHNOLOGY USE GUIDELINES
Educational Purpose/ Responsible Use: Technology is to be used to enhance student learning. Students are able to access social networking and gaming sites only under the guidance and supervision of the teacher for the educational outcomes identified within the lesson and given appropriate age.
Copyright/Intellectual Property and Identity: All sources obtained for teacher and student work should be properly cited. Users are to respect the rights and intellectual property of others in accordance with Federal Copyright Law. Transferring copyrighted material to or from a school without express permission of the owner is a violation of Federal Law and could result in copyright infringement claims.
Responsible Use of School Hardware/Devices: All AoP users are responsible for the general care of School issued hardware/devices. Users must report any damage to the school’s hardware/device. Local school policy may further define faculty, staff, and students’ responsibilities and expectations Users may be held liable for any costs associated with device repair or replacement.
Communications: Electronic and/or Digital communications with students should be conducted for educationally appropriate purposes and employ only school-sanctioned means of communication. The school-sanctioned communications methods include:
Teacher school web page, school-issued email and/or phone number
Teacher created, educationally focused networking sites
Student Information System and Learning Management System
Remind Communication app – or similar i.e. Class Dojo, Seesaw
Teachers, administrators or staff members in their normal responsibilities and duties may be required to contact parents outside of the school day. A teacher, administrator or staff member is free to contact parents or guardians using a home phone or a personal cell phone. However, they should not distribute a home phone number or a personal cell phone number to students. If a student contacts a teacher or administrator using a teacher or administrator’s personal numbers, email or social networking sites, the teacher or administrator should immediately report this to the administrator or appropriate authorities.
Electronic and Mobile Devices, Cell phone/Wearable technology: Users must adhere to local school policy that may further define uses of mobile devices. The administrator of the local school will determine permissible use. If a particular mobile device is to be used for an educational purpose, the school administration and/or teacher will provide parameters for this use.
Smart Speakers: Primarily intended for at-home consumer use, these always-listening devices are not directly intended for the classroom. Therefore, smart speakers (Echo, Google Nest, etc..) are not to be used in the classroom nor connected to the network on a permanent basis during the academic year.
Remote/Distance Learning: Remote or distance learning may be used to supplement face-to-face instruction, or where appropriate, may be the primary modality of instruction. To effectively engage in remote or distance learning, users are expected to:
Participate from an appropriate location in the home.
To the user’s best ability, be in a well-lit and quiet area. Avoid having windows or strong sources of light directly behind an individual when engaging in teaching/learning on camera.
Wear appropriate and respectful attire. (This may be more specifically defined by the local school administration.)
Where able, only use first name and last initial to identify yourself via video conferencing software.
Students are not to use or preserve a photograph, image, video, including-live streaming, or likeness of any student, or employee without express permission of that individual and of the principal.
Prior to recording any portion of a live classroom session, instructors are to notify the students who are in the same session, face-to-face or online.
Live class recordings are meant for internal school use only. Recordings are to be saved locally on a network drive or the school’s GSuite for Education Google Drive. Recordings are to be deleted at the end of the academic year in which they were recorded. Recordings are not for promotional use, rather solely for educational purposes.
This Responsible Use Policy applies to students using personal devices for remote instruction.
Maintaining hardware/devices provided by the local school is the responsibility of the student/family. (Local school policy may define further students’ responsibilities and expectations.)
Examples of Unacceptable Uses – Users are not to:
Use technology to harass, threaten, deceive, intimidate, oend, embarrass, annoy or otherwise negatively impact any individual.
Post, publish, disseminate or display any defamatory, inaccurate, violent, abusive, profane or sexually oriented material. Users must not use obscene, profane, lewd, vulgar, rude or threatening language. Users must not knowingly or recklessly post or disseminate false information about any persons, students, staff or any other organization.
Use a photograph, image, video, including-live streaming, or likeness of any student, administrator, employee or volunteer without express permission of that individual and of the principal.
Create any site, post any photo, image or video of another individual except with express permission of that individual and the principal.
Attempt to circumvent system security, blocked sites or to bypass software protections.
Violate license agreements, copy disks, CD-ROMs, or other protected media.
Use technology for any illegal activity. Use of the Internet for commercial gains or profits is not allowed from an educational site.
Breach confidentiality obligations of school or school employees
Harm the goodwill and reputation of the school or system in the community. This includes, but is not limited to: the mis-use of school images and logos, creation of unauthorized accounts that suggest they are school-sanctioned, or accounts targeting or impersonating school community members.
Transmit any material in violation of any local, federal and state laws. This includes, but is not limited to: copyrighted material, licensed material and threatening or obscene material.
Attempt to modify software and/or hardware configurations on a school issued device without proper permission and direction.
Any attempt to alter data, the configuration of a school issued device, or the files of another user, without the consent of the individual, building administrator, or technology administrator, will be considered a violation and subject to disciplinary action in accordance with the local school policies.
Load personal software onto a school device or school-issued device without proper permission or direction.
The following activities are strictly prohibited, with no exceptions:
Effecting security breaches or disruptions of network communication. Security breaches include, but are not limited to, accessing data of which the user is not an intended recipient or logging into a server or account that the user is not expressly authorized to access, unless these duties are within the scope of regular duties. For purposes of this section, "disruption" includes, but is not limited to, network sning, pinged floods, packet spoofing, denial of service, and forged routing information for malicious purposes.
Executing any form of network monitoring which will intercept data not intended for the user, unless this activity is a part of the users normal job/duty.
Circumventing user authentication or security of any host, network or account.
Any virus or phishing protection software installed on school or school issued devices must not be disabled or bypassed .
Reporting: Users must immediately report any damage or change to the school’s hardware/software that is noticed by the user.
Administrative Rights: The school has the right to monitor both student and employee use of school computers and computer accessed content. Due to the evolving nature of technology, the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, Oce of Catholic Education reserves the right to amend or supplement this policy at any time without notice.
All school personnel are reminded that all computer, network, and Internet use will be monitored and there is no assurance of privacy or warranty of any kind, either expressed or implied.
Personal Use of Social Media
This section of the policy refers to the personal use of social media sites such as, but not limited to: Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, Tumbler, Ask.fm, Snapchat, Discord , and TikTok.
Teachers and students may not mention members of the school community on social media without their consent unless the subject is of public concern and the speech falls under applicable constitutional protections.
“Friending” or “Following” of current students by teachers is forbidden on a teacher’s personal social media site. Teachers should also not ‘friend’ former students unless and until such student has attained the age of majority. Personal and professional posts must use appropriately respectful speech, and refrain from harassing, defamatory, abusive, discriminatory, threatening or other inappropriate communications. Teachers are encouraged to have professional social media accounts, separate from any personal account. Parents are encouraged to follow those for announcements and resources. Teachers are to inform local administrators as to any class utilizing social media, which should be for educational purposes only.
Social media postings from school sanctioned accounts should refer to students by using their first name, last initial. Schools should avoid linking posts to students’ personal accounts.
School sponsored organizations must obtain permission from school administration to create any social media accounts related to the organization. Such accounts should be created with a school issued account. Accounts should be maintained and controlled by a minimum of two school appointed adult moderators.
Policy Violations
Inappropriate use in contradiction to the above rules will be addressed by the administration of the school. Violation of these rules may result in any or all of the following:
Loss of use of the school network, computers and software, including Internet access. The student will be expected to complete work in an offline work environment.
Issuance of demerits/detentions, if applicable.
Possible financial obligations for the repair or replacement of damaged school devices.
Disciplinary action including, but not limited to, dismissal and/or legal action by the school, civil authorities, or other involved parties