POLICY MANUAL - Calhoun County Schools

Current Reviewing Media:♦ AASA Science Books and Films♦ American Film & Video Association Evaluations♦ Booklist♦ Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books♦ Core Media Collection for Secondary School♦ English Journal♦ Horn Book♦ H.W. Wilson Standard Catalog♦ Instructor♦ Kirkus Reviews♦ Media and Methods♦ School Library Journal♦ Alabama State Courses of Study (Recommended Booklists)4.06STUDENT ACCEPTABLE USE AND INTERNET SAFETY POLICY• For the Computer Network of the Calhoun County SchoolsThe Board recognizes that as telecommunications and other new technologies shift theways that information may be accessed, communicated, and transferred by members ofthe society, those changes may also alter instruction and student learning. The Boardgenerally supports access by students to rich information resources along with thedevelopment by staff of appropriate skills to analyze and evaluate such resources. In afree and democratic society, access to information is a fundamental right of citizenship.Telecommunications, electronic information sources, and networked servicessignificantly alter the information landscape for schools by opening classrooms to abroader array of resources. In the past, instructional and library media materials couldusually be screened--prior to use--by committees of educators and community membersintent on subjecting all such materials to reasonable selection criteria. This Board Policyrequires that all such materials be consistent with district-adopted guides, supportingand enriching the curriculum while taking into account the varied instructional needs,learning styles, abilities and developmental levels of the students. Telecommunications,because they may lead to any publicly available fileserver in the world, will openclassrooms to electronic information resources that have not been screened byeducators for use by students of various ages.In order to match electronic resources as closely as possible to the approved districtcurriculum, district personnel will review and evaluate resources in order to offer "homepages" and menus of materials that comply with Board guidelines governing theselection of instructional materials. In this manner, staff will provide developmentallyappropriate guidance to students as they make use of telecommunications andelectronic information resources to conduct research and other studies related to thedistrict curriculum. All students will be informed by staff of their rights and