Spearfish School District 40-2
6000 INSTRUCTION

Administrative Regulation                                                                                                                                                                                                     
Code: 6245AR/4020AR

SPEARFISH SCHOOL DISTRICT E-MAIL ADMINISTRATIVE REGULATION

E-mail is a system of communication provided by the Spearfish School District for its staff and student body. E-mail is to be used only for purposes that support the mission of our district.

The software and hardware that provides us e-mail capabilities has been publicly funded. For that reason, it should not be considered a private, personal form of communication. Although we do not have staff who actively monitor e-mail communications, the contents of any communications of this type and files stored on school equipment (computers, cameras, servers, etc.) may be accessed by the school and are governed by the Open Records Act. We will cooperate with any legal request for access by the proper authorities, including district administration.

Since e-mail access is provided for school related use, do not forward messages that have no educational or professional value. An example would be messages that show a cute text pattern, jokes, or follow a "chain letter” concept. These messages should be deleted and the sender notified that messages of that nature are not appropriate to receive on your district e-mail account.

Please use the "groups" function of our e-mail system appropriately. Do not send messages to an entire staff when only a limited group of people actually needs to receive the message.

Subscriptions to Internet listservs should be limited to professional digests due to the amount of e-mail traffic generated by general subscriptions. Please use your home Internet account to receive listserv subscriptions of a general nature.

Users have the responsibility to use this resource in an efficient, effective, ethical, and lawful manner. E-mail must follow the same code of conduct expected in any other form of written or
face-to-face communications.

The following use of the E-mail system is strictly prohibited. Suspected violations of policy should be reported to a district administrator:

• The creation and exchange of messages that can be interpreted as offensive, harassing, obscene or threatening as defined by the district's Anti-Harassment Policy 4101/5130.
• The creation and exchange of spam, jokes, and chain letters.
• The creation and exchange of information in violation of copyright laws.
• Compromising password security by exposing passwords to public view or sharing passwords without the individual's permission.
• Willfully exposing our network to a computer virus.
• Conducting personal, non-school related business through the school's network (on-line ordering, on-line bidding, on-line selling, or financial transactions).
• Promoting or advocating any political or religious agenda.

Violation of this administrative regulation may result in disciplinary actions.

Approved November 22, 2000
Reviewed December 11, 2006
Reviewed  January, 2009