Nevarmore Ravenscroft School
Ravenscroft School
7 4 0 9 F a l l s o f N e u s e Ro a d
December 2013
Nelson Mandela Former President of South Africa
Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela was a South African anti-apartheid revolutionary who was imprisoned for 27 years and then became a politician and philanthropist who served as President of South Africa from 1994 to 1999.
Born: July 18, 1918, Mvezo, South Africa Died: December 5, 2013
Anna Collawn, ‘16, Sydney Jordan, ‘15, and Liz Gulden, ‘14, use personal technology while on campus during Journalism/Newspaper class, but are mindful of the Ravenscroft Acceptable Use Policy.
Acceptable Use Policy Photo by Stephanie Wiehe
What happens when the Chrome becomes tarnished? Stephanie Wiehe When the issue of student use of technology came Editor
up in Upper School History Instructor Mark Laskowski’s government class, the members of the class took a close at the existing Acceptable Use Policy and concluded that it needed an update. They participated in an in-class project designed to offer the students a chance to work as a legislative group writing a real proposal, while giving students a chance to offer input on policies that directly affect them. The new proposal was headed by sophomores Evan Grimes,
‘16 and Bridget Ulrich ‘16. The Acceptable Use Policy is signed by each student of the Upper School, along with his or her parents to ensure understanding of the responsibilities that come with privilege. Upper School Leadership team is currently reviewing the proposal and has encouraged the Student Government Association to create and submit it’s own version of this proposal. All students are welcomed to participate in the discussions about this proposal at the SGA mettings in early January.
The Current Policy
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he school’s Acceptable Use Policy, signed by all students at the beginning of the year, inculcates that all Ravenscroft technology is “a privilege not a right,” and that all technology is to be “monitored by the “network administrators to maintain system integrity.” This simple statement gives the school the rights to search all technology belonging to the school and to administer disciplinary and legal action in the face of offenses regarding rules such as follows:
Activities NOT Permitted While Using Ravenscroft Technology: -Game playing -Sending personal email -Altering the appearance of desktop, cursors, or other icons -Downloading or streaming videos or music -Using obscene language or harassing, harming, or insulting others
Consequences for Violating Ravenscroft Community Standards:
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f a student is caught on campus with any material of offense, a member of the Upper School Leadership Team (and, when appropriate, the Head of School) shall investigate the issue, contacting the student(s) involved and their parents, and issue a consequence in keeping with the disciplinary code of the school. When legally required, the school will report the offense to the public authorities. The school may also suspend or expel a student for any other activity that is unlawful or particularly egregious. In all cases in which the Ravenscroft Community Standard has been violated, the guilty student will be required to make restitutions to the victim in ways such as writing a formal apology to the victim of offense. The students involved might also be required to “talk-it-out” under proper supervision. A student who commits a second violation of the digital aspect of the Ravenscroft community standard (including sexting, cyber bullying, or any other serious offense) could be expelled from the school.
Unlike the current Acceptable Use Policy, the students’ proposal outlines specific guidelines and consequences for the use of technology, both of the school and not, on and off campus.
The Proposal
Grimes, ‘16, and Ulrich, ‘16, headed the development of not a replacement for the acceptable use policy, but a supplement including the Ravenscroft “community standards” for use of technology. These community standards outline offenses including sexting, cyberbullying, and other technological misuse.
Community Standards
Sexting
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he act of sending via text message, Instant Messaging (IM), or any other form of electronic communication an image of any person (including oneself) that is sexually suggestive and/or involves partial or complete nudity. The term also includes saving, storing, or retransmitting of such images with or without the approval of the person seen in the image.
Cyber bullying
The act of harassing,
humiliating, slandering, emotionally degrading, or defaming a person through the use of a computer, phone, pager, or any electronic device capable of transmitting messages.
Abusing Technology
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he use of school technology in improper ways such as cyber bullying, visiting inappropriate sites during class time, or committing other actions using school technology to engage in conduct deemed by school policy or the school’s Leadership Team to be unacceptable, unproductive, or otherwise contrary to the purpose of using technology to support the mission of the school.