School District Proposes Internet Policy

Thu., March 14, 1996

Carla K. Johnson

Spokane School District could discipline students or staff who view X-rated material on the Internet under a policy proposed Wednesday to the school board.

The board is expected to vote on the policy March 27.

The district would not try to block access to potentially offensive Internet sites, instead relying on students and teachers to surf only in clean waters.

“It’s almost impossible to block out sites from someone determined to get in,” said Technology Services Director Joe Austin. “We didn’t want to give a false sense of security.”

Students and their parents would be required to sign a form before students went on-line.

The form will warn parents that students could be exposed to “defamatory, inaccurate, abusive, obscene, profane, sexual, racially offensive or illegal material on the Internet” if they don’t follow the rules.

The proposed policy contains a “code of conduct” prohibiting electronic mail forgery, the creation of computer viruses, the use of district computers for financial gain and other cyberspace sins.

Lest the board forget the learning potential of the worldwide network of computers called the Internet, Austin led them on a six-continent tour of World Wide Web home pages from libraries, universities and the White House.

“If we had time we could talk to the First Family’s cat Spot, er, Socks,” Austin said as he clicked onto the White House home page.

, DataTimes

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