Parent Handbook - Appendix D
John R. Briggs Elementary School
Parent Handbook
APPENDIX D
Ashburnham-Westminster Regional School District
WEBPAGE PUBLISHING POLICY
Our district has chosen to adopt the following regulations with respect to all of our school webpages.
Supervision of Webpages
Responsibility for the content of a school’s website will rest solely with the building principal. The principal, at his or her discretion, may select a person, or persons (hereafter referred to as the webmaster) to maintain the school website in a fashion that is consistent with the regulations set forth in this policy.
Quality of Content
Each school webpage will be designed and maintained in such a way as to meet with the following criteria:
- anything that appears on the school webpage will be grammatically correct and free of spelling mistakes
- the webpage should be well organized, professional in appearance, and offer ease of use for those who visit the site 3. the only links (quick connections to other sites on the World Wide Web) which will be posted on the webpage are those which have been thoroughly checked out by the webmaster and deemed to be of educational value
- the webpage will not contain ANY links to staff or student homepages
It must be clearly understood that any material submitted for publication (by either a student, staff member, or community member) may be accepted or rejected by the building principal based on its educational merits and the needs of the school at that point in time.
Publication of Student and Staff Information
Publication of student information will be implemented in a tiered approach.
At the high school level: the following information, in any combination, may appear on the school webpages: individual and/or group photographs, student work, and a student’s full name.
At the middle school level: group photographs and side profiles may appear on the school webpages. However, no names shall ever be linked to a photograph. Student work shall be identified by first name and last initial only.
At the elementary school level: Student work shall be identified by first name and grade level only.
For purposes of this policy, student work shall be understood to be (though not limited to) writings, artwork and musical pieces. Additionally, information at any level may only be published with the expressed written permission of the student’s parent or guardian (see Permission Form).
Permission Form
At the beginning of each school year, the Ashburnham-Westminster Regional School District Webpage Publishing Permission Form will be sent home with each student in the district. Parents/guardians must indicate on the form if they grant or deny permission for their child’s name and/or picture to appear on a school webpage. If a parent/guardian fails to complete the form, the district will treat that act as a DENIAL of consent, until otherwise notified in writing by the parent/guardian. This permission form will then be kept on file at the student’s respective school. If the student is eighteen, s/he may sign the permission form for her/himself. Student telephone numbers and/or home addresses will not be posted on any school webpage.
A staff member’s full name, picture, and school email address can be published on a school webpage provided that the staff member has signed a release form authorizing the publication of such information. Staff home telephone numbers and/or home addresses will not be posted on any school webpage.
Copyright issues
When student or staff work is published on any school webpage, the webmaster will post a copyright notice prohibiting the copying of this work without written consent.
If a webmaster chooses to incorporate material (text files, graphics, audio files) from another source on the school webpage, s/he must first obtain permission from the copyright owner. The district will furnish each webmaster with a Copyright Permission Form that can be used to garner said permission. Once permission is granted and the material is used, a notice must be placed at the bottom of the school webpage crediting the original producer.
Policy Review
The School Committee will periodically assess the appropriateness of the language contained herein and make any necessary changes to stay current with technological advances.
First Reading: 3 /21/ 00 Adopted: 3 /28/ 00