Web Publishing Guidelines

The Mayfield Central School District’s website is an opportunity for the school district and its staff to showcase learning, events, activities and accomplishments of staff and students to the world through the Internet. It is also a direct informational link to parents and community members.

Creators and/or authors of Web pages on the Mayfield website need to familiarize themselves with, and adhere to, the following website regulations in order to receive and retain authoring privileges on the district website.

For the purposes of these regulations, “district website” and “district Web pages” refer to all the pages housed within the district’s website on the server used by the district.

Content Standards

1. Any Web page that is created, other than those maintained by the communications specialist, must be maintained by a member of the district faculty, staff or administration (unless special permission is given by the district superintendent). Students may not author Web pages on the Mayfield website. This person is responsible for the content, currency and maintenance of this page or pages. The Web page(s) must include the name of the of the person maintaining the page and a hyperlink to his/her e-mail address in the footer.

2. Staff may not publish or maintain any personal Web pages or Web pages for other individuals or organizations not directly affiliated with the district as part of the district’s website.

3. All pages should be free of spelling and grammatical errors. It is the Web page author’s responsibility to proofread all material before it is posted on the website. Should errors be missed, they should be fixed immediately upon discovery.

4. All content on the district website must relate to education, curriculum, instruction, school-authorized activities and athletics, school or district news, or general information relating to work, activities and accomplishments of the district and its staff, as representatives of the district. Student work can only be published by the teacher/staff member who is responsible for authoring that page or pages.

5. Commercial advertising or marketing on any district, school, classroom or teacher Web page (or the use of school-affiliated Web pages for the pursuit of personal or financial gain) is prohibited unless otherwise authorized by the superintendent of schools. School-affiliated Web pages may mention outside organizations, but only in the context of school programs that have a direct relationship to those organizations (e.g., sponsorship of an activity, student community service project).

6. Web authors who link to an external website are required to check the appropriateness and currency of all external links contained on their Web page(s). If the link is or becomes broken, outdated or otherwise inappropriate, the teacher/staff member must unlink that page from his/her page.

7. Web pages may not contain objectionable material [any material that does not meet the content criteria as defined above or that is defined as objectionable in the district’s website policies or link directly to objectionable material, websites containing objectionable material or personal Web pages that do not relate to the district and/or education].

8. Web pages may not contain any detailed maps, floor plans or “virtual tours” of district buildings.

9. Teacher Web pages will be deleted when a teacher retires or leaves the district unless other arrangements are made.

Technical Standards

1. Teachers/staff members who author a district Web page or pages must use the templates provided by the district. The template design may not be altered in any way. All text, graphics, links and other content added by the teacher/staff member should be placed in the editable content section of the template. All colors and text styles provided with the template must be maintained.

2. All pages on the district website, including those authored by teachers/staff members, will conform to New York State standards on website accessibility (New York State OFT Policy, P04-002, Accessibility of State Agency Web-based Intranet and Internet Information and Applications). See “More Information,” right.

3. All photos should be sized properly in an outside program (e.g., Microsoft Office Picture Manager or Adobe Photoshop) and should be saved at 72 dpi. Large photos or graphics should be avoided. All images and graphics should be saved in the appropriate “images” folder. Each section folder contains its own images folder.

4. Web pages should not contain links to pages that are not yet completed.

5. Any sound or video used on the district website must first be approved by the employee’s immediate supervisor.

Safeguarding Student Privacy & Publishing Student Information

1. Web pages may not include students’ contact information, including telephone numbers, addresses or e-mail addresses. Any inclusion of student information on the district’s website must adhere to the district’s policy regarding release of student “directory information,” which states that the district may release a students’ name, grade, school, address (as appropriate), photograph, participation in officially recognized activities or sports, and any honors or awards received without prior parental permission. This information (including students’ names and photographs) may be used on the district website, as long as the district does not have a written request from a parent/guardian barring its release. Parents who object to the disclosure of their child’s directory information should notify their child’s building principal — in writing — on or before Sept. 15 of each school year.

2. Web pages should not include any information that indicates the physical location of a student at a given time, other than attendance at a particular school or participation in school-related activities.

3. Any student information communicated via the Mayfield website will comply with district policies on data privacy and public use of school records.

4. In accordance with the district’s policy regarding release of student “directory information,” staff members do not need to and should not see parental permission to include student directory information on the district’s website.

Safeguarding Staff Privacy & Publishing Staff Information

1. Web pages may include faculty or staff names; however other personal information about employees, including but not limited to home telephone numbers, home addresses and personal e-mail addresses, may not be included on any district Web pages.

2. Under no circumstances should a teacher/staff member give students his/her website username or password.

Use of Copyrighted Materials/Fair Use/Intellectual Property

1. All employees and students are prohibited from copying materials not specifically allowed by copyright law, “Fair Use” guidelines, licenses or contractual agreements or the permission of the copyright proprietor. Web pages must include a statement of copyright when appropriate and indicate that permission has been secured when including copyrighted materials and that such publication is in accordance with the “Fair Use” provisions of the copyright law.

2. Fair use provisions allow for copyrighted material to be used for the purpose of criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship or research. However, information on a website — including teacher or student projects — may not be covered by these provisions because they could be widely disseminated because of the fact that they are available on the Internet. Therefore, anyone who is authorized to author a page on the Mayfield website should obtain permission of the copyright holder before posting copyrighted information on the district’s website.

3. Unless otherwise noted, always assume that work (including photographs, text, music and graphics) on the Internet is copyrighted. It is NOT necessary that the copyright symbol (©) be displayed for the work to be protected by copyright laws.

4. Proper attribution must always be given per the organization or the individual.

5. Obtaining permission from the copyright holder should occur during the developmental process of the project, rather than waiting to seek permission upon completion of the project.

6. Unauthorized electronic transmission of copyrighted materials is illegal.

7. Any permission obtained from a copyright holder for text, pictures, graphics, music or other copyrighted material used on the district website should be given to the district communications specialist.

Ownership and Retention

All Web pages on the Mayfield website, including district, school, classroom and teacher pages, are the property of the school district.

Any Mayfield Central School District staff member who has a teacher Web page is expected to adhere to all of the above mentioned policies. Failure to do so may result in the teacher/staff member’s Web page being unlinked from the district website and may result in the teacher/staff member’s website privileges being rescinded.