Guiding Principles for Technology Use in the Shrewsbury Public Schools Middle Schools

Respect Yourself

You are part of a community that is local and global. Your online community includes your teachers, parents, friends, neighbors, college admissions officers, future employers, the whole world. Everything you do online, including post, write, like, friend, comment, pin, +1, tweet, message, IM, text, etc. is public and becomes part of your digital footprint, or personal brand. What do you want your personal brand to say about you? Here are some tips for creating a positive digital footprint.

• Act as though nothing is private and nothing can be deleted
• Act as you would if you were in the center of town (because you are, it just looks different).
• Be as kind, thoughtful, polite, and helpful online as you are in person. If you wouldn’t do or say something to someone’s face, don’t do it online either.

Be Careful

• Not everybody has good intentions and not all information online is true.
• Seek assistance from a parent, teacher, or other adult you trust if you receive or find something that makes you uncomfortable.
• Check to see if a website or person is really who they say they are.
• Don’t give out your full name, address, school, age, birthday, or other identifying information about yourself.
• Use privacy settings when creating digital accounts and be aware that true privacy is difficult to achieve. Assume that people will know what you post and who you are even if you think it is private.
• Companies use your digital footprint to send you advertisements and can sell it to other companies to do the same. Criminals use digital information to find targets. Don’t give out information online that you wouldn’t give out to a stranger in person.
• The digital footprint you create now will stay with you for the rest of your life. Think before you post and decide what personal information you want the rest of the world to see.

Respect Others

• It’s important to respect others as your actions can affect them. Treat other people’s information
• with the same care you use for yourself.
• Seek permission for recording and posting photographs, videos, audio, holograms, and other media.
• Respect confidentiality - Don’t share information from others that was meant only for you. Don’t share personal information about other people.
• Respect the work of others - Pay attention to copyright and give credit when you use someone else’s work.
• Respect school resources (wifi, internet bandwidth, printers, and other resources.)
• Follow the laws of the land.
• Actively listen to others.
• Respect property.

Also Know

• In the case of a concern around inappropriate behavior, while you are enrolled in school and in a school building, school staff can ask to see the contents of your personal and school-owned devices and accounts.