Along with these technologies, school corporations and individual schools have Web sites that are available to the public. The University of Minnesota’s Web66 project found that over 12,000 schools worldwide now have Web sites (Williams, 1998). This means that 12,000 schools have information that most would assume to be non-controversial. But if students are creating these Web sites or are allowed to post their own Web sites, then schools need to have Web publishing guidelines as well as Acceptable Use Policies established within a Technology Policy. When developing a technology policy there are some general components that should be included (Cohn, Kelsey, and Fiels, 1999):
1. State purpose and what the policy will include
2. Overview of basics with examples of numerous policies
3. Define the policy and make some basic decisions
4. Develop the policy and discuss assessment of purpose and need
5. Discuss how to implement, evaluate and keep policies current

WHAT IS AN ACCEPTABLE USE POLICY?

Acceptable Use Policies usually provide lists of appropriate and in-appropriate uses of computers in a school setting. An AUP is a written document that is signed by students, their parents and teachers, outlining the terms and conditions of the Internet use and the rules of online behavior, access privileges, and school Web site publishing guidelines (Crane, 2004). There seems to be a general consensus across the nation as to what elements should be included in an AUP. Security, internal networks, e-mail usage, software standards, and privacy show up as the most important and frequently selected information technology concerns (Gil-Garcia, 2004). There is a plethora of AUP templates that can be retrieved from the Internet for school districts to use. Their general layout includes Internet terms and conditions of use which address topics such as acceptable use, privileges, network etiquette, security, vandalism, and sections for student, parent, and teacher signatures (Classroom Connect).
WHO WRITES AN AUP?

There seem to be two different types of groups who would be responsible for writing AUPs for school districts. One group is a committee made up of a combination of the following: technology coordinators, library media specialists, teachers, parents, students, administrators and school board members. The second group would create an AUP that would incorporate Board of Education policies as well. The first group would probably take the state guideline for writing an AUP, if one was available from that state’s department of education, and make it specific to that particular district, school, or classroom. The Board group would focus on creating a policy that would contain content of a general AUP, but would connect those standards to the district’s policies on student rights and responsibilities. Such rights would include the district policy and procedures on locker searches and a student’s rights to privacy of freedom of speech. They tie consequences and procedures to those already in effect (McKenzie, 1995). This approach would also profile faculty responsibilities and rights as employees using these technologies.
STATE AUP GUIDELINES

In 1998, Indiana included hardware, content, connectivity, and teacher training to the state technology policy (Jerald and Orlofsky, 1999). Each public school corporation in Indiana must adopt an Internet Acceptable Use Policy that describes general guidelines for schools to follow (Appendix 1). Some of the key elements of these guidelines specifically address what types of materials should be prohibited for students to access. Many schools can block Internet sites, which they deem inappropriate. My experience is that many students know how to get around the software that blocks inappropriate sites. So the responsibility is ultimately on the teacher supervising student use of computer workstations. If computers are not arranged so that a teacher can be supervising all workstations no matter his/her location, then it can be very challenging to monitor. The state guidelines also make reference to student and parent knowledge of school technology policies as well as the responsibilities of the students to follow the policies. When schools establish an AUP it is very important to have students and parents read and sign that they have read and agreed to the policy.
BOARD POLICIES

The Board policy is different from a basic AUP in that it addresses potentially controversial information and relates it to pre-existing policies on curriculum and the selection of curriculum materials, outlining clear expectations for staff and staff supervising student use of computers and the Internet (McKenzie, 1995). The focus of many AUPs is the risks associated with the Internet and obscenities or inappropriate behavior. However, there are also risks that are related to the quality of the information accessed and efforts to restrict access. A solid Board policy addresses most or all of the following topics (McKenzie, 1995):
1. Contact with objectionable material
2. Contact with questionable material
3. Contact with questionable persons
4. Objectionable behavior
5. Objectionable material
6. Destructive behavior
7. Violation of privacy rights
8. Violation of access rights

TECHNOLOGY PERCEPTIONS

Whether you take the state approach or the Board approach to writing an AUP, there are technological issues that need to be addressed. One has to remember that no matter who is on the committee to create a technology policy for a particular school or school district, those individuals have their own vision as to what technology should be available to students and what determines appropriate and in-appropriate material. A teacher’s perspective would be different from a technology coordinators perspective. For example, a technology coordinator might not understand why it would be important for students to have access to a wide range of resources. Most teachers would want their students to have a wide range of access to complete research or projects for class. Those teachers would assume the responsibility of monitoring students to make sure they were not accessing inappropriate information. Whereas most technology coordinators would want to make sure that they maintained the security of data that was being accessed (Johnson, 2003).
THE EXAMPLE

Shelbyville Central Schools has established three main components in their technology policy: “Suggested Student Workstation Guidelines”, “Acceptable Use of the Internet”, and “Building and Maintaining a School Website”. The Board of School Trustees of Shelbyville Central Schools adopted this technology policy on December 19, 1995. It was revised on June 10, 1997. I will use this as the example by which other schools could follow. I feel that this technology policy establishes relevant guidelines for faculty and students to follow when using school computers. The technology policies can be viewed in their entirety by visiting http://www.shelbycs.org/technology. I will discuss some of the key elements of each section of the policy. The fundamental objectives of the policy are:
1. To have a corporate-wide, on-going strategic planning process.
2. To establish a partnership involving students, staff, families and communities.
3. To have a positive learning environment.
4. Promote/support high student achievement in all areas.
5. To have quality employees
6. To have an effective communication system for all stakeholders

Suggested Student Workstation Guidelines

This section focuses on general use guidelines for all schools in the corporation to implement when it comes to students and teachers using computer workstations in the district. One of the first areas of concentration deals with copyright regulations and software licensing. These are policies that are strictly enforced. My computer lab is differentiated from other computer labs in our building in that I have the widest range of software availability. Our technology coordinator is adamant that licensing agreements for all the software on the computers has documentation. This stays in check in that neither students nor teachers have access to load any software onto any of the computers. If software is to be loaded, then a request is made and a technology assistant installs the software. Violating the use of copyrighted material is discussed as well. Students are expected to have either permission before using information or files from the author or giving a proper citation of the source. The essence of this section focuses on “The BIG List of NO-NO’s” which includes:
· NO food (including gum and candy) or drinks allowed around Shelbyville Central computers.
· NO games
· NO Instant Messaging or online chatting allowed
· NO email use by students
· NO software installation or program downloads by students
· NO music or MP3 downloading, not even legal music and MP3 downloading
· NO "burning" of music CD's of any kind using Shelbyville Central computers
· NO posting to electronic bulletin boards or message boards
· NO changing of computer configuration settings (i.e.: home page, passwords, screensaver) or altering the desktop display
Along with this section the guidelines stipulate that if a teacher feels that for educational purposes students need to use computers in a manner that is listed above then that teacher needs to discuss it with their buildings principal to obtain approval for use.
Acceptable Use of the Internet
The AUP for Shelbyville Central Schools begins with an informative section explaining what the Internet is, how the Internet should be used in a school environment, and the responsibilities that students and faculty assume when using the Internet. The policy determines that the Internet is to be used only for support of academic programs, telecommunication, and access to general information. The AUP continues by discussing the proper conduct for students and faculty to adhere to when using the Internet along with disciplinary actions that the Corporation has the right to take if privileges are abused. Along with specific expectations for Internet use, the policy also describes expectations for general maintenance. This includes deleting old e-mail messages, keeping from transferring files or shareware, and not downloading software. At the beginning of the school year students and parents are given the Student Workstation Guidelines and the Acceptable Use of the Internet agreements. The packet also includes a signature page for the student and parent to sign agreeing to the terms given in the guidelines. The list of students names who have signed the agreement are given to teachers and are updated periodically. This helps the faculty determine who can go to computer labs to work and who cannot. As detailed and thorough as the guidelines are, it makes it easier for teachers, media specialists and administrators to monitor and discipline students when using computer workstations and the Internet.
Web Publishing Guidelines
The Web Publishing Guidelines for Shelbyville Central Schools is a lengthy document establishing what each school’s Webmaster should and should not include on the individual school websites. Each school has its own Webmaster who is responsible for creating, maintaining, and updating only those schools Web sites. The high school is the only school in the district that has students working on their schools Web site. So as the high school Webmaster, I have to make sure the students are aware of and understand the Web Publishing Guidelines. The first section of the Web Publishing Guidelines focuses on topics dealing with Web Design. This section is designed to help the individual Webmasters determine the Web sites general information, its purpose, and structure; then decide how to organize it. The guidelines have also recognized what items should not be integrated onto school Web sites. With each of the sections listed the policy explains the reason for not using the following items when creating a school Web site:
1. Unnecessary “Bells and Whistles”
2. Frames
3. Large Homepages
4. Long Scrolling Pages
5. Music on a web page
6. Interlaced GIF’s
7. ImageMaps
8. Scrolling Text, Marquees, and
9. Constantly Running Animation’s
10. Orphan Pages or Dead Ends
11. Dissolves and Fades
12. Assuming your visitors are computer experts
13. Cookies
14. Overusing Animated GIF’s
15. No Title for your web page
The guidelines also include elements that are suggested to integrate into a school Web site. With each of the sections listed the policy explains the reason for not using the following items when creating a school Web site:
1. Navigation and Structure
2. Three clicks and you’re out
3. Link to your home page
4. Use tables
5. Use Gif and JPEG
6. Design your web page with other browsers in mind
7. Use Templates
8. Be considerate with your choice of colors and fonts
9. Keep it Simple
The Web Publishing Guidelines have contracts for school principals and sponsoring teachers (the individual schools Webmaster) to sign that establish their individual responsibilities. There is also a student contract that has to be signed for students who are working on individual school Web sites. The student contract requires the sponsoring teacher, the student, and parent signatures.

RECOMMENDATONS TO OTHER SCHOOL CORPORATIONS
I feel that the Shelbyville Central Schools Technology Policy is a solid policy. It corresponds with the guidelines required by the Indiana Department of Education. The policy would be a good model for any corporation to use. It addresses in detail student and faculty use of the Internet, corporation computer workstations, and web publishing guidelines. If a school corporation were just beginning the process of creating a technology policy it would be essential to include input from not only administrator’s and the technology coordinator, but also faculty, media specialists, students, and parents. The more perspectives that are included the stronger the technology policy will be. If a school corporation wanted to improve their policy they should stay current with trends of Web sites and software that students are familiar with. An example would be MySpace.com. This is a Web site that has become a social arena for mainly teenagers, it has the capability of having educational value, but the way in which it is currently being used does not have any educational value and should not be accessed in an educational environment. There are a lot of non-educational and even controversial Web sites that many adults are not aware of. Student knowledge tends to include a wider variety of accessibility than most adults. I spent quite a few hours trying to find other school corporation’s technology policies on their Web sites. I could not find one technology policy out of the dozens of schools I searched through. I would expect that most of these schools have created some type of policy; they just have not posted them on their Web site. I would also hope that schools that have created technology policies have made all of their faculty, administrators, students, and parents aware of those policies.
RECOMMENDATIONS TO SHELBYVILLE SCHOOL CORPORATION
There are some areas that I think could use some improvement in our school corporation’s technology policy. One of the areas in the Student Workstation Guidelines deals with email use by students. The policy stipulates that students cannot use e-mail. I think this should be changed to limited use or supervised use of e-mail. When teaching computer applications classes, I feel that knowing how to use Outlook Express is a valuable tool. All of our textbooks have a section covering the topic. Outlook Express is not installed on any student workstation so we cannot teach students the beneficial tools that are included in Outlook Express. I also believe that the technology policy should be reviewed and revised taking into account that the last revision was in 1997. Writing policies and procedures should be a task that is continually updated taking into consideration how quickly technology changes. Many schools and school districts have developed systematic plans to continually review and revise policies (Repman and Downs, 1999). The last recommendation is not a weakness in the actual policy, but common knowledge of the policy. Even though I feel Shelbyville has a very thorough policy, I had to tell the assistant principal where to locate it and what it entailed when I had the incident with the student that I discussed at the beginning of this paper. Shelbyville High School was currently featured in Time Magazine and on The Oprah Show because of low graduation rates and our connection to state representative Luke Messer, who is from Shelbyville and was instrumental in passing a bill that would require students to be eighteen before they could dropout of school. Our school corporation’s superintendent stated that he envisioned the alternative school that will begin next year to be a laid back environment where students could eat donuts and instant message. Instant messaging is one of the “Big NO-NO’s” listed in our Student Workstation Guidelines section of the technology policy. I was appalled when I read that portion of the article. Our own superintendent, who prior to this year was the high school principal, does not know what is stated in the corporation wide technology policy. Our school corporations next in service definitely need to address the technology policy.

APPENDIX 1: STATE REQUIRMENTS FOR PUBLIC SCHOOL INTERNET ACCEPTABLE USE POLICIES AND GUIDELINES
2005 by Indiana Department of Education
1. Describes general instructional philosophies and strategies to be supported by Internet access in schools.
2. Describes the process for governing local Internet system security, user accounts and user privileges.
3. Describes sanctions to be taken when violations of the policy occur.
4. Makes specific reference to prohibiting the use of school corporation Internet resources/accounts:
a. To access, upload, download or distribute pornographic, obscene or sexually explicit material.
b. To transmit obscene, abusive or sexually explicit language.
c. To violate any local, state or federal statute.
d. To vandalize, damage or disable the property of another person or organization.
e. To access another person's materials, information or files without the implied or direct permission of that person.
f. To violate copyright, or otherwise use another person's intellectual property without their prior approval or proper citation.
5. Requires that parents be notified that their students will be using school corporation resources/accounts to access the Internet, and provides parents the option to request alternative activities not requiring Internet access.
6. Requires the permission of and supervision by the school's professional staff before a student may use a school account or resource to access the Internet.
7. Indicates that the educational value of student Internet access is the joint responsibility of students, parents and employees of the school corporation.
8. Makes the school corporation's Internet policies and procedures available for review by all parents, guardians, staff and members of the community.
B. Each public school corporation in Indiana MUST provide staff and student Internet users guidelines for:
1. Responding to unsolicited on-line contact.
2. Safe-guarding personal information, such as name, address, telephone number, etc.

APPENDIX 2: SHELBYVILLE CENTRAL SCHOOLS ACCEPTABLE USE OF THE INTERNET
1997 by Shelbyville School Corporation Board of Trustees
A. The Shelbyville Central Schools may revoke use of these resources at any time for any reason. Appropriate reasons for revoking use privileges include, but are not limited to, the altering of system software, the placing of unauthorized information, computer viruses, or harmful programs on or through the computer system in either public or private files or messages. The Corporation reserves the right to remove files, limit or deny access, and refer the individual for other disciplinary actions, The Corporation reserves the right to monitor any and/or all communication on accounts obtained by the Shelbyville Central Schools.
B. The Shelbyville Central Schools reserves all rights to any material stored in files which are generally accessible to others and will remove any material which the Corporation, at its sole discretion, believes may be unlawful, obscene, pornographic, abusive, or otherwise objectionable. No students or faculty will use his/her Corporation-approved computer account/access to obtain, view, download, or otherwise gain access to such materials.
C. All information services and features contained on Corporation or Network resources are intended for the private use of its registered users and any use of these resources for commercial-for-profit or unauthorized purposes (i.e. advertisements, political lobbying, illegal use of copyrighted materials, or use as an electronic game board), in any form, is expressly forbidden.
D. The Corporation and/or the INTERNET resources are intended for the exclusive use of their registered users. The student/faculty member is responsible for the use of his/her account/password and/or access privilege. Any problems, which arise from the use of another person’s account, are the responsibility of the account holder. Use of an account by someone other than the registered account holder is forbidden and may be grounds for loss of access privileges. The Shelbyville Central Schools are not responsible for any obligations incurred by the individual.
E. Any misuse of the account will result in suspension of the account privileges and/or other disciplinary action determined by the Corporation. Misuse may include, but not be limited to:
1. Intentionally seeking information on, obtaining copies of, or modifying files, other data, or passwords belonging to other users;
2. Misrepresenting other users on the INTERNET;
3. Disrupting the operation of the INTERNET through the abuse of the hardware or software;
4. Malicious use of the INTERNET to transmit hate mail, harassment, obscene, profane, vulgar, abusive, or sexually explicit statements or discriminatory remarks;
5. Interfering with others use of the INTERNET;
6. Extensive use for non curriculum-related communication
7. Illegal installation of copyrighted software;
8. Unauthorized downloading, copying, or use of licensed or copyrighted software;
9. Allowing anyone to use an account other than the account holder;
10. Violating any local, State, or Federal statute;
11. Accessing, uploading, downloading, or distributing pornographic, obscene, or sexually explicit materials;
12. Vandalizing, damaging, or disabling the property of another person or organization;
13. Accessing another person’s materials, information, or files without the implied or direct permission of that person;
14. Violating copyright, or otherwise using another person’s intellectual property without his/her prior approval or proper citation; The use of Corporation and/or INTERNET resources are for the purpose of in order of priority):
15. Support of academic programs;
16. Telecommunication;
17. General information.
F. The Corporation and/or INTERNET does not warrant that the functions of the system (hardware, software, diskettes, hard drives, or server) will meet any specific requirements the user may have, or that it will be error free or uninterrupted; nor shall it be liable for any direct, indirect, incidental, or consequential damages (including lost data, information, or time) sustained or incurred in connection with the use, operation, or inability to use the system.
G. The student/faculty member will diligently delete old mail messages on a daily basis from the personal mail directory to avoid excessive use of the electronic mail disk space. The Corporation reserves the right to clear all mailboxes of old messages periodically throughout the school year.
H. The Corporation and/or INTERNET will periodically make determinations on whether specific uses of the INTERNET are consistent with the acceptable-use practice. The Corporation and/or INTERNET reserve the right to log Internet Service use and to monitor electronic mail space utilization by users.
I. The student/faculty member may transfer files from information services and electronic bulletin board services through a file transfer; the student/faculty member agrees to check the file with a virus detection program before opening the file for use. Should the student/faculty member transfer a file, shareware, or software which infects the Network with a virus and causes damage, the student/faculty member will be liable for any and all repair costs to make the Network once again fully operational and may be subject to other disciplinary measures as determined by the Corporation. The Shelbyville Central Schools are not responsible for any damage to programs, computers, and/or any electronic equipment of anyone using of INTERNET.
J. The student/faculty member may not transfer files, shareware, or software from services and electronic bulletin boards without the written permission of the Shelbyville Central Schools. The student/faculty member will be liable to pay the cost or fee of any file, shareware, or software transferred, whether intentional or accidental, without such permission.
K. The student may only log on and use the INTERNET under the immediate supervision of a staff member and only with his/her authorized account number.
L. The Corporation reserves the right to log computer use and to remove the user account on the INTERNET to prevent further unauthorized activity.
In consideration for the privilege of using the Corporation and/or INTERNET resources, and in consideration for having access to the information contained on the Network, or by the Network, the student/faculty member must agree to release the Corporation, the INTERNET, and their operators and administration from any and all claims of any nature arising from their use, or inability to use the Corporation and/or INTERNET resources.
Parents/Guardian Notification:
A. That their children will be using Corporation resources and accounts to access the INTERNET
B. That the child and the parents must sign a document agreeing to follow the policies and procedures of the Corporation for the child to be allowed to use Corporation resources
C. That parents/guardians are financially responsible for their students’ improper and/or unauthorized use of the Corporation resources and accounts
D. That it is possible for students to purchases goods and services via the INTERNET and that these purchases could potentially result in unwanted financial obligations
E. That even though the Corporation may use technical means to limit students INTERNET access, these means do not provide a foolproof means for enforcing the provisions of local acceptable use policies
F. That all provisions of this policy are subordinate to local, State, and Federal statute
G. That parent may request alternative activities not requiring INTERNET access
H. That the educational use of student INTERNET access is the joint responsibility of students, parents, and employees of the Corporation
I. That the INTERNET policies and procedures are available for review by all parents, guardians, staff members, and the members of the community
J. That all passwords by students using the INTERNET via accounts made available through Shelbyville Central Schools, be on file in the principal’s office or the office of his/her designee. All passwords must be kept updated and current. Failure to update the file of passwords is grounds for cancellation of the student’s individual account.
K. That under no circumstances are students to pass on proper names and/or addresses of themselves, other students, teachers, or staff of the Shelbyville Central Schools. When information is requested it is the student’s obligation to notify the school supervisor immediately.
Guidelines must be provided for students/faculty members who may use INTERNET for:
A. Responding to unsolicited online contact;
B. Safe-guarding personal information, such as name, address, telephone number, etc

References
Classroom Connect. Retrieved April 11, 2006, from Network Montana Project Web site: http://www.itrc.ucf.edu/WORKSHOPS/Telecom2/AUP_template.html.
Cohn, J., Kelsey, A., & Fiels, K. (1999). Writing and Updating Technology Plans: A Guidebook with Sample Policies on CD-ROM. Retrieved Monday, April 17, 2006 from the ERIC database.
Crane, B. (2004). Issues Surrounding Internet Use: Acceptable Use Policies. Information Searcher, 15(2), 13-16. Retrieved Monday, April 17, 2006 from the Library, Information Science & Technology Abstracts database.
Gil-Garcia, J. (2004). Information technology policies and standards: A comparative review of the states. Journal of Government Information, 30(5/6), 548-560. Retrieved Tuesday, April 18, 2006 from the Library, Information Science & Technology Abstracts database.
Jerald, C., & Orlofsky, G. (1999). Raising the Bar on School Technology. Education Week, 19(4), 58. Retrieved Monday, April 17, 2006 from the Professional Development Collection database.
Johnson, D. (2003). Techno Intelligence. School Library Journal, 49(3), 38. Retrieved Monday, April 17, 2006 from the Professional Development Collection database.
Loverro, I. (2002). Acceptable Use Policies: What Role Do Teachers Play? Retrieved April 10, 2006, from University of Washington Web site: http://students.washington.edu/loverro/projects/AUP-NECC.htm.
McKenzie, J. (1995). Creating Board Policies for Student Use of the Internet. Retrieved April 10, 2006, from From Now On The Educational Technology Journal Web site: http://www.fno.org/fnomay95.html.
Repman, J., & Downs, E. (1999). Policy issues for the 21st century library media center. Book Report, 17(5), 8. Retrieved Tuesday, April 18, 2006 from the Professional Development Collection database.
School Board of Trustees. (1997). Shelbyville Central Schools Technology Policy. Retrieved April 6, 2006, from Shelbyville Central School Corporation Web sites: http://www.shelbycs.org/aup/index.html, http://www.shelbycs.org/technology/computerlabguidelines.html, http://www.shelbycs.org/webpublishing/index.html.
State Requirements for Public School Internet Acceptable Used Policies and Guidelines. Retrieved April 3, 2006 from Indiana Department of Education Web site: http://www.doe.state.in.us/olr/aup/aupreg.html.
Williams, M. (1998). Your School Web Page and Free Speech. Retrieved April 10, 2006, from techLEARN Web site: http://www.techlearning.com/db_area/archives/WCE/archives/williams.htm.