General Electronic Communication Devices

• Students assume full responsibility for using all Board on-line systems in ethical and appropriate educational manner. All educational on-line systems and resources must comply with the Mission, Beliefs, Gospel, Values and policies of the Niagara Catholic District School Board.
• Students are to obtain permission from a teacher to use Board computer systems and access to the Internet.
• Students vandalizing, modifying or causing damage to electronic communication systems, including software, will be responsible for the full cost to repair or replace hardware or software.
• Students are prohibited from removing any computer hardware from its location.
• Students are prohibited from attempting to gain unauthorized access to Board electronic communication systems or data.
• Students must not access any e-mail or download any material that knowingly contains a virus.
• Students are to adhere to and respect all copyright laws.
• Students who have permission to post information to the Internet are to have the classroom teacher review the work to ensure that it is consistent with the Municipal Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act.
• Students are to report to their Principal any abuse of electronic communications systems.
• The use of Board computers and Internet access is a privilege and any breach may result in the closure of user accounts, cancellation of computer and Internet privileges and disciplinary action in accordance with Board Policy and the Code of Conduct.
• All electronic communications systems, its data and messages generated on or handled by Niagara Catholic equipment are the sole property of the Board and can be traced, viewed and stored.
• Niagara Catholic staff will notify and fully cooperate with authorities in any investigation relating to activities conducted through the Board’s electronic communications systems.

Personal Electronic Devices

Cell phones, digital assistants (PDA), audio or video recorders and players or other personal electronic devices are prohibited for use by students in all Niagara Catholic elementary and secondary schools unless specifically approved by staff for instructional or co-instructional purposes. Staff members will confiscate items from students who are using these in the building. Students are expected to comply with these requests. Items will be turned in at the Main Office and put in storage until a parent comes to retrieve them. Additional breaches of this policy will result in consequences ranging from detentions and additional parental contact to suspension for opposition to authority. The school/board assumes no responsibility for the safety and security, loss, recovery, repair or replacement of a personal electronic device when carried on to Board premises. The secure storage of these devices is the sole responsibility of the owner / user.

Sound Producing Equipment

Sound producing equipment may distract the learning environment of other students.  Therefore, the use of radios, cassette recorders, walkmans, MP3 players, etc. or any other sound producing equipment deemed disruptive is not permitted in the school and will be confiscated. This also applies to students’ cars – please keep music volume at a reasonable level.

Computer Use

It is an expectation that students will use Niagara Catholic District School Board electronic communications systems for educational purposes to enhance learning through responsible access to global information and communication. Students are expected to exercise common sense and decency with regard to the school’s computing resources.

Students are prohibited from:

• hacking into any program, site or personal account;
• manipulating files that are not on a personal account;
• using obscene, harassing, racial or other inappropriate language;
• erasing, damaging, copying files of another user;
• tampering with computer settings, network configurations or desktop settings;
• knowingly downloading viruses;
• copying licensed material or software;
• installing any software not approved by the Niagara Catholic District School Board;
• using any program to circumvent security features which include firewalls, filters, virus protection, etc;
• using email unless it is used for school related purposes with permission;
• any messenger service;
• using any other person’s account on the system;
• attaching unauthorized devices to a computer or network;
• using external storage devices (i.e. USB) without permission;
• any other activity deemed inappropriate.

Internet Use

• accessing, participating, transmitting or saving illegal, commercial, gambling, racist, abusive, profane, pornographic, violent, discriminatory material;
• accessing and participating in on-line harassing systems or sites;
• accessing, participating, transmitting or saving material that does not comply with the Mission, Beliefs, Gospel Values and policies of the Niagara Catholic District School Board;
• accessing e-mail or Hotmail accounts. (E-mailing of homework or Board approved e-learning courses is permitted with permission of school staff);
• cyber-stalking or spamming;
• accessing chat rooms or discussion forums that are not approved by school staff;
• transmitting information in violation of Canadian, Ontario or municipal laws;
• duplicating, plagiarizing, storing or transmitting copyrighted material that violates copyright law;
• downloading large files that will take up system file space without permission of school staff;
• any other activity deemed inappropriate.