San Francisco Unified School District and County Office of Education
Board Policy 4040
All Personnel – Employee Use Of Technology
This Board Policy applies to the San Francisco Unified School District and the County Office of Education.
The Board of Education recognizes that technological resources enhance employee performance by offering effective tools to assist in providing a quality instructional program; facilitating communications with parents and guardians, students, and the community; supporting District and school operations; and improving access to and exchange of information. The Board expects all employees to learn and to use available technological resources to assist them in the performance of their job responsibilities. As needed, employees shall receive professional development in the appropriate use of these resources.
(cf. 0440 – District Technology Plan)
(cf. 1100 – Communication with the Public)
(cf. 1113 – District and School Web Sites)
(cf. 1114 – District-Sponsored Social Media)
(cf. 4032 – Reasonable Accommodation)
(cf. 4131 – Staff Development)
(cf. 4231 – Staff Development)
(cf. 4331 – Staff Development)
Employees shall be responsible for the appropriate use of technology and shall use District technology primarily for purposes related to their employment.
(cf. 0410 – Nondiscrimination in District Programs and Activities)
(cf. 4119.11/4219.11/4319.11 – Sexual Harassment)
(cf. 4119.21/4219.21/4319.21 – Professional Standards)
(cf. 4119.23/4219.23/4319.23 – Unauthorized Release of Confidential/Privileged Information)
(cf. 4119.25/4219.25/4319.25 – Political Activities of Employees)
(cf. 5125 – Student Records)
(cf. 5125.1 – Release of Directory Information)
(cf. 6162.6 – Use of Copyrighted Materials)
(cf. 6163.4 – Student Use of Technology)
District technology includes, but is not limited to, the District’s computers, networks, software programs and applications, storage devices, telephone, email, voicemail, and electronic and telecommunication technologies and facilities, whether accessed onsite or remotely through District -owned or personally owned equipment or devices.
The Superintendent or designee shall establish an Acceptable Use Agreement which outlines employee obligations and responsibilities related to the use of district technology. Upon employment and whenever significant changes are made to the district’s Acceptable Use Agreement, employees shall be required to acknowledge in writing that they have read and agreed to the Acceptable Use Agreement.
Employees shall not use District technology to access, post, submit, publish, or display harmful or inappropriate matter that is threatening, obscene, disruptive, sexually explicit, or unethical or that promotes any activity prohibited by law, Board policy, or administrative regulations.
Harmful matter includes matter, taken as a whole, which to the average person, applying contemporary statewide standards, appeals to the prurient interest and is matter which depicts or describes, in a patently offensive way, sexual conduct and which lacks serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value for minors. (Penal Code 313)
The Superintendent or designee shall ensure that all District computers with Internet access have a technology protection measure that protects against access to visual depictions that are obscene, child pornography, or harmful to minors and that the operation of such measures is enforced. The Superintendent or designee may disable the technology protection measure during use by an adult to enable access for bona fide research or other lawful purpose. (20 USC 6777; 47 USC 254)
The Superintendent or designee shall annually notify employees in writing that they have no expectation of privacy in the use of any equipment or other technological resources provided or maintained by the District, including, but not limited to, files, messages or communications, even when provided their own password. Any and all uses of the District’s computer and electronic systems and any files on the system may be intercepted, recorded, monitored, copied, deleted, audited, inspected and disclosed to authorized District personnel or to other persons or entities, including law enforcement personnel investigating potentially illegal activity. To ensure proper use, the Superintendent or designee may monitor employee usage of District technology at any time without advance notice or consent and for any reason allowed by law.
In addition, employees shall be notified that records maintained on any personal device or messages sent or received on a personal device that is being used to conduct District business may be subject to disclosure, pursuant to a subpoena or other request.
Employees shall report any security problem or misuse of District technology to the Superintendent or designee.
Inappropriate use of District technology may result in a cancellation of the employee’s user privileges, disciplinary action, and legal action in accordance with law, Board policy, and administrative regulation.
(cf. 4118 – Dismissal/Suspension/Disciplinary Action)
(cf. 4218 – Dismissal/Suspension/Disciplinary Action)
Legal Reference:
EDUCATION CODE
52295.10-52295.55 Implementation of Enhancing Education Through Technology grant program
GOVERNMENT CODE
3543.1 Rights of employee organizations
PENAL CODE
502 Computer crimes, remedies
632 Eavesdropping on or recording confidential communications
VEHICLE CODE
23123 Wireless telephones in vehicles
23123.5 Mobile communication devices; text messaging while driving
23125 Wireless telephones in school buses
UNITED STATES CODE, TITLE 20
6751-6777 Enhancing Education Through Technology Act, Title II, Part D, especially:
6777 Internet safety
UNITED STATES CODE, TITLE 47
254 Universal service discounts (E-rate)
CODE OF FEDERAL REGULATIONS, TITLE 47
54.520 Internet safety policy and technology protection measures, E-rate discounts
COURT DECISIONS
City of Ontario v. Quon et al. (2010) 000 U.S. 08-1332
Management Resources:
WEB SITES
CSBA: http://www.csba.org
American Library Association: http://www.ala.org
California Department of Education: http://www.cde.ca.gov
Federal Communications Commission: http://www.fcc.gov
U.S. Department of Education: http://www.ed.gov
Policy SAN FRANCISCO UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT
adopted: February 23, 2016 San Francisco, California
Please note that compare references, or “cf”, refer to CSBA model policies and do not necessarily indicate that the San Francisco Unified School District has adopted the referenced policy.