Tammy McLane
Argenta-Oreana Junior High School
Argenta, Illinois

Part 1

Our school attorney initially wrote Argenta-Oreana school district's AUP. The superintendent and I then edited it to customize it for our district. We wanted it to be in laymen's terms so it would be easy to understand. In the AUP itself there is really nothing that talks about penalty details because we want to be flexible and fair in dealing out punishments when students break the rules of the AUP. Penalties also need to be flexible for different age groups. (Currently, we only have Internet access at the High School and Junior High.) However, we have initiated a procedure that is based on Classroom Connect's Internet Driver's License Kit. We have designed a district "driver's license" the size of a business card which includes the student's name and signature, teacher signature, and the date the student passed the Internet Test. This is a short, written test the student must pass after being introduced to Internet etiquette and safety, the AUP, and an Internet browser. A parent/guardian signature is required on a page attached to the AUP before the Driver's License is issued.

The student is then given a username and password for network access. The student must carry the license with him/her at all times while at school if Internet access is wanted. For example, the student goes to the library and gets on a networked computer. He/she puts the license in plain sight on or near the computer so the librarian knows he/she has been trained on using the network/Internet and knows the AUP rules. If a student breaks any minor rule in the AUP, he/she gets a "click". A click is one hole punch on the driver's license. There are 4 colored circles to be punched on the license--green, yellow, red, and black. The colors correspond to the colors on a stoplight--go, caution, stop. When the black circle is punched, the student is "dead", no more Internet/Network access. Of course, if the student breaks a major rule of the AUP, then he/she immediately loses the license and all Internet/Network access.

We felt that it was only fair to have the teachers, staff, etc. sign an Acceptable Use Policy, too. We are also planning to open the lab(s) on a regular basis to the public when school starts this fall. So we actually have three policies -- an AUP for students, for employees, and for the community.

Part 2

Our district currently has 1090 students and about 115 computers in 4 buildings. Only two buildings are networked. This presents a problem when trying to find software discounts. We are too small for most site licenses to be cost effective. A network license is only good for one building so again we have too few computers in each building for a network license to be cost effective. That leaves lab packs as a practical choice for software purchases.

Fortunately, the State Board has negotiated with several popular hardware dealers and software publishers to offer an Illinois Learning Technology Purchase Program. We have taken advantage of Educational Resources Partnership Plus Program to order several titles. The order has to be at least 5 of the same title but the prices are great--$15 @ diskette, $20 @ CD. Each title then comes with teacher guides, etc.

Another program that we have used in the past is the Scholastic Software Club. Besides earning bonus points from any student orders, you can also use bonus points to get additional copies of software. For instance, when we ordered 25 copies of the Magic School Bus we only paid for 21 because we immediately used the bonus points to get the other 4 copies free. This was in addition to the already discounted price that Scholastic offers.