Description: Line LogoUse

of

Electronic Facilities Policy

 

Gospel Values:

Honesty, Care, Integrity, Justice, Equity, Safety, Service

 

Preamble:

This policy relates to the use of and access to information and communications technologies ICTs by staff and sets out the security, administration and internal rules which you should observe when communicating electronically or using the IT facilities provided by St Andrew’s Catholic College, Redlynch Valley. You should familiarise yourself with the terms of this policy in order to minimise potential damage to you, your colleagues, and St Andrew’s Catholic College, Redlynch Valley, which may arise as a result of misuse of email or Internet facilities.

 

It does not address all possible uses of ICT but outlines the general principles applicable to the appropriate use of ICTs and contains specific prohibitions of unacceptable use.

 

Policy:

The Use of Electronic Facilities Policy applies to all employees and contractors of St Andrew’s Catholic College, Redlynch Valley will use ICTs lawfully, professionally and appropriately. Responsibility for acceptable use of ICTs at work rests with the user and a breech of this policy may give rise to disciplinary and or legal action.

 

St Andrew’s Catholic College, Redlynch Valley believes that all employees should be provided with the appropriate tools to carry out their roles effectively. Also the College will provide the necessary funds and in-service opportunities for staff to utilise technology equipment. The College will maintain the technology equipment and network resources to a standard which will effectively support the work of staff.

 

Consequences:

1.      St Andrew’s Catholic College, Redlynch Valley Property

1.1       St Andrew’s Catholic College, Redlynch Valley is the owner of copyright in all documents including: email messages, programs, resources created by its employees and contractors in performing their duties.

 

2.      Monitoring

2.1       From time to time, the contents and usage of email may be examined by St Andrew’s Catholic College, Redlynch Valley or by a third party on St Andrew’s Catholic College, Redlynch Valley’s behalf. This will include electronic communications which are sent to you or by you, either internally or externally.

 

2.2       You should structure your email in recognition of the fact that St Andrew’s Catholic College, Redlynch Valley may from time to time have the need to examine its content.

 

2.3       St Andrew’s Catholic College, Redlynch Valley’s computer network is a business and educational tool to be used primarily for business or educational purposes (that is, for purposes relating to the users role within St Andrew’s Catholic College, Redlynch Valley.) You therefore have a responsibility to use these resources in an appropriate, professional and lawful manner.

2.4       All messages on St Andrew’s Catholic College, Redlynch Valley system will be treated as education or business related messages, which may be monitored. Accordingly, you should not expect that any information or document transmitted or stored on St Andrew’s Catholic College, Redlynch Valley’s computer network will be private.

 

2.5       You should also be aware that St Andrew’s Catholic College, Redlynch Valley is able to monitor your use of the internet, both during working hours and outside of these hours. This includes the sites and content that you visit and the length of time you spend using the Internet.

 

2.6       Emails will be archived by St Andrew’s Catholic College, Redlynch Valley as it considers appropriate.

 

2.7       Acceptable Use of ICTs

            Acceptable use of ICT’s includes the following:

·         Facilitating, gathering and disseminating information;

·         Encouraging collaborative projects and resource sharing;

·         Fostering innovation;

·         Fostering professional development;

·         Undertaking administrative functions that support the employer;

·         Work related use, which includes (but is not limited to) the following;

·         Curriculum related information and resources;

·         Student welfare and pastoral issues;

·         Professional and educational issues;

·         Inter-school and external communication with work colleagues;

·         Employment related information such as Occupational Health and Safety, legal research for employer programs; and

·         Well considered and efficient use of resources.

 

2.8       Specific Unacceptable Usage

            The following are unacceptable uses of computer systems:

·         Any uses in breach of existing Catholic Education Services policies;

·         Any use that contravenes the Mission and Vision and values of the Catholic school system;

·         Any attempts to injure the reputation of or cause embarrassment to schools or Catholic Education Services;

·         The use of obscene, profane, lewd, vulgar, rude, inflammatory, threatening or disrespectful language;

·         Posting information that, if acted upon, could cause damage or a danger of disruption of normal working and study conditions within Catholic Education Services and its schools;

·         Attempts to access material that is profane or obscene (including pornography), or advocates illegal acts, or that advocates violence or unlawful discrimination towards others;

·         Attempts to access sites and games containing inappropriate content for both workplace and school settings. These include gambling, violence, hate and horror sites and games;

·         Any use of Catholic Education Services ICTs for the conduct of employees’ own business activities;

·         Use of ICTs for party political purposes. This does not include the use of  ICTs to obtain information relating to industrial matters within the meaning of the Industrial Relations Act 1996 (NSW) or to receive emails from or on behalf of a trade union;

·         Engaging in inappropriate activities, including, but not restricted to “spamming” (sending an annoying or unnecessary message to a large number of people), “hacking” (attempting unauthorized access to a computer system), sending or forwarding of chain letters;

·         Use of ICTs in such a way as to impede the efficiency of other users.

·         Transmitting sensitive or confidential information contrary to the Privacy Policy and this policy;

·         Recording or transmitting images or sound recording of other staff or students without their permission or contrary to the provisions of the privacy policy;

·         Communicating information concerning any password, identifying code or other confidential information; and

·         Undertaking illegal activities as defined by any legislation, including but not limited to the access and transfer of all forms of pornography, particularly child pornography.

 

3.      Personal Use

3.1       You are permitted to use the Internet and email facilities to send and receive personal messages, provided that such use is kept to a minimum and does not interfere with performance of your work duties.

 

3.2       However, you should bear in mind that any use of the Internet or email for personal purposes is still subject to the same terms and conditions as otherwise described in this policy.

 

3.3       In the case of shared IT facilities, you are expected to respect the needs of your colleagues and use the Internet and email in a timely and efficient manner.

 

3.4       Excessive or inappropriate use of email or Internet facilities for personal reasons during working hours may lead to disciplinary action.

 

4.      Content

4.1       Email correspondence should be treated in the same way as any other correspondence, such as a letter or fax; that is, as a permanent written record which may be read by persons other than the addressee and which could result in personal or St Andrew’s Catholic College, Redlynch Valley’s liability.

 

4.2       You and/or St Andrew’s Catholic College, Redlynch Valley may be liable for what you say in an email message. Email is neither private nor secret. It may be easily copied, forwarded, saved, intercepted, archived and may be subject to discovery in litigation. The audience of an inappropriate comment in an email may be unexpected and extremely widespread.

 

4.3       You must never use the Internet or email for the following purposes:

(a)    To abuse, vilify, defame, harass or discriminate (by virtue of sex, race, religion, national origin or other);

(b)   To send or receive obscene or pornographic material;

(c)    To injure the reputation of St Andrew’s Catholic College, Redlynch Valley or in a manner that may cause embarrassment to your employer;

(d)   To spam or mass mail or to send or receive chain mail;

(e)    To infringe the copyright or other intellectual property rights of another person; or

(f)    To perform any other unlawful or inappropriate act.

 

4.4       Email content that may seem harmless to you may in fact be highly offensive to someone else. You should be aware, therefore, that in determining whether an email falls within any of the categories listed above, or is generally inappropriate, St Andrew’s Catholic College, Redlynch Valley will consider the response and sensitivities of the recipient of an email rather than the intention of the sender.

 

4.5       If you receive inappropriate material by email, you must delete it immediately and not forward it to anyone else. It would be appropriate for you to discourage the sender from sending further materials of that nature.

 

4.6       Comments that are not appropriate in the workplace will also be inappropriate when sent by email. Email messages can easily be misconstrued. Accordingly, words and attached documents should be carefully chosen and expressed in a clear, professional manner.

 

4.7       You should be aware that use of St Andrew’s Catholic College, Redlynch Valley’s network in a manner inconsistent with this policy or in any other inappropriate manner, including but not limited to use for the purposes referred to in paragraph 4.3 of this policy, may give rise to disciplinary action, including termination of an employee’s employment or contractor’s engagement.

 

5.      Privacy

5.1       In the course of carrying out your duties on behalf of St Andrew’s Catholic College, Redlynch Valley, you may have access to, or handle personal information relating to others, including students, colleagues, contractors, parents and suppliers. Email should not be used to disclose personal information of another except in accordance with St Andrew’s Catholic College, Redlynch Valley Privacy Guidelines or with proper authorisation.

 

5.2       The Privacy Act requires both you and St Andrew’s Catholic College, Redlynch Valley to take reasonable steps to protect the personal information that is held from misuse and unauthorised access. Thus you are responsible for the security of your personal computer and must not allow it to be used by an unauthorized party, which specifically includes anyone who is not an employee of St Andrew’s Catholic College, Redlynch Valley.

 

5.3       You will be assigned a log-in code and you will also select a password to use St Andrew’s Catholic College, Redlynch Valley’s electronic facilities. You must ensure that these details are not disclosed to anyone else. We suggest that you take steps to keep these details secure. For example, you should change your password regularly and ensure that your log-in code and password are not kept in writing close to your working area.

 

5.4       You should either lock your screen or log-out when you leave your desk. This will avoid others gaining unauthorized access to your personal information, the personal information of others and confidential information within St Andrew’s Catholic College, Redlynch Valley.

 

5.5       In order to comply with St Andrew’s Catholic College, Redlynch Valley’s obligation under the Privacy Act, you should use the blind copy option when sending emails to multiple recipients where disclosure of those persons’ email addresses will impinge upon their privacy.

 

5.6       In addition to the above, you should familiarize yourself with the National Privacy Principles and ensure that your use of email does not breach the Privacy Act or the National Privacy Principles.

 

6.      Distribution and Copyright

6.1       When distributing information over St Andrew’s Catholic College, Redlynch Valley’s computer network or to third parties outside St Andrew’s Catholic College, Redlynch Valley, you must ensure that St Andrew’s Catholic College, Redlynch Valley has the right to do so, and that you are not violating the intellectual property rights of any third party.

 

6.2       If you are unsure of whether you have the sufficient authorization to distribute the information, we recommend that you contact your Head of School or Department.

 

6.3       In particular, copyright law may apply to the information you intend to distribute and must always be observed. The copyright material of third parties (for example, software, database files, documentation, cartoons, articles, graphic files and downloaded information) must not be distributed through email without specific authorisation to do so.

 

7.      Confidentiality

7.1       When email is sent from St Andrew’s Catholic College, Redlynch Valley to the network server then on to the Internet, the email message may become public information. Encryption will reduce the risk of third parties being able to read email and should be used in cases where you feel additional security is required. If you require more information in relation to encrypting messages, you should contact the Information and Communications Technology Team.

 

7.2       As mentioned above, the Internet and email are insecure means of transmitting information. Therefore, items of a highly confidential or sensitive nature should not be sent via email. You should note that there is always a trail and a copy saved somewhere not necessarily only on St Andrew’s Catholic College, Redlynch Valley’s network server.

 

7.3       This confidentiality requirement applies even when encryption is used.

 

7.4       Email sent over the Internet may be truncated, scrambled, or sent to the wrong address. There is a possibility that outgoing email sent over the Internet may arrive scrambled or truncated, may be delayed, may not arrive at all, or may be sent to the wrong address. Where outgoing email is important or urgent, you should verify that the recipient has received the email in its entirety.

 

7.5       You must ensure that all emails that are sent from your email address contain St Andrew’s Catholic College, Redlynch Valley‘s disclaimer message, which will read as follows:

 

            The contents of this email are confidential. Any unauthorized use of the contents is expressly prohibited. If you have received this email in error, please advise the sender by email or by telephone 61 7 4039 5200  immediately and then delete / destroy the email and any printed copies.

            Thank you.

 

[This message is to be set to appear automatically on each outgoing email. Please contact Information and Communications Technology if this feature is not working.]

 

7.6       There is a risk of false attribution of email. Software is widely available by which email messages may be edited or ‘doctored’ to reflect an erroneous message or sender name. The recipient may therefore be unaware that he or she is communicating with an impostor. Accordingly, you should maintain a reasonable degree of caution regarding the identity of the sender of incoming email. You should verify the identity of the sender by another means if you have concerns.

 

7.7       Please delete old or unnecessary email messages and archive only those emails you need to keep. Retention of message fills up large amounts of storage space on the network server and can slow down performance. You should maintain as few messages as possible in your in-boxes and out-boxes. If there are items in your email which you require at a later date, please ensure that these are saved in your network directory so that appropriate backups are made office wide.

8.      Viruses

8.1       All external files and attachments are virus checked using scanning software before they are accessed. The Internet is a potential host for computer viruses. The downloading of infected information from the Internet is potentially fatal to parts of St Andrew’s Catholic College, Redlynch Valley computer network.

 

8.2       A document attached to an incoming email may have an embedded virus.

 

8.3       Virus checking is done automatically through the anti-virus software installed on the server and on all IBM compatible PC’s. If you are concerned about an email attachment, or believe that it has not been automatically scanned for viruses, you should contact the Information and Communications Technology Team. All users of Macintosh Computers on the network must be careful to identify emails that may contain viruses and not forward such files to other users.

 

9.      Absence

9.1              In cases where you are likely to be absent from work for any period of time, you should make arrangements for your emails to be accessible by St Andrew’s Catholic College, Redlynch Valley or ensure that an ‘out of office reply’ is automatically set. This automatic reply will alert those trying to contact you that you are away from work and that important queries should be directed to a nominated colleague. If you require assistance with installing this feature, please contact the Information and Communications Technology Team.

 

9.2              At any time the Head of School or Department can direct the Information and Communications Technology Team to allow access to another person for such emails where such arrangements have not been made.

 

10.  Policy Updates

10.1     This policy may be updated or revised from time to time. Administration Staff of St Andrew’s Catholic College, Redlynch Valley will notify you each time the policy is changed. If you are unsure whether you are reading the most current version, please refer to the network copy in the staff handbook. Use of Electronic Facilities Policy.pdf.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

11.  General

11.1     The terms and recommended conduct described in this policy are not intended to be exhaustive, nor do they anticipate every possible use of St Andrew’s Catholic College, Redlynch Valley’s email and Internet facilities. You are encouraged to act with caution and take into account the underlying principles intended by this policy. If you feel unsure of the appropriate action relating to use of email or the Internet, you should contact the Information and Communication Technology Team in the first instance.

 

 

 

Acknowledgment:               This policy was originally adapted from the Catholic Education Office, Diocese of Toowoomba’s Policy for Use of Electronic Facilities last updated March 2004.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Last Updated March 2010