Technology Services
We believe the integration of technology in education is not an end unto itself, but a means to more effective teaching and learning.
Purchasing of Technology Equipment
Technology Equipment Purchasing Procedure
View the Approved Technology Equipment List Here
Technology Department Work Orders
Technology Work Order Procedure
If you do not have access to the work order program, you will need to talk with the individual(s) in your school responsible for entering the work orders. This should be the Media Specialists and the Principal.
If you have any questions or concerns regarding the work order program, please contact: Mr. Jeremy Green, 334-793-1397, ext. 236233, jergreen@dothan.k12.al.us
Department Directory
Policies, Planning, and Other Documents
- Data Governance Policy
- Dothan City Schools Technology Usage Policy
- Dothan City Schools Technology Plan
- Dothan City Schools Technology Diagnostic
- Dothan City Schools Executive Summary
- Dothan City Schools Technology Goals and Objectives
- Improvement Plan
- Stakeholder Involvement
- Transform 2020 Inventory
- Copyright
Data Governance Policy
Dothan City Schools Data Governance Policy
I. POLICY
A. It is the policy of Dothan City Schools that data or information in all its forms--written, electronic, or printed--is protected from accidental or intentional unauthorized modification, destruction or disclosure throughout its life cycle. This protection includes an appropriate level of security over the equipment, software, and practices used to process, store, and transmit data or information.
B. The data governance policies and procedures are documented and reviewed annually by the data governance committee.
C. Dothan City Schools conducts annual training on their data governance policy and documents that training.
D. The terms data and information are used separately, together, and interchangeably throughout the policy. The intent is the same.
E. The superintendent and/or his/her designee is authorized to establish, implement, and maintain data and information security measures and procedures. The policy, standards, processes, and procedures apply to all students and employees of the district, contractual third parties and agents of the district, and volunteers who have access to district data systems or data.
F. This policy applies to all forms of Dothan City Schools’ data and information, including but not limited to:
A. Speech, spoken face to face, or communicated by phone or any current and future technologies,
B. Hard copy data printed or written,
C. Communications sent by post/courier, fax, electronic mail, text, chat and or any form of social media, etc.,
D. Data stored and/or processed by servers, PC’s, laptops, tablets, mobile devices, etc., and
E. Data stored on any type of internal, external, or removable media or cloud based services.
F. The district will abide by any law, statutory, regulatory, or contractual obligations affecting its data systems. Dothan City Schools complies with all applicable regulatory acts including but not limited to the following:
A. Children’s Internet Protection Act (CIPA)
B. Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA)
C. Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA)
D. Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) Pg. 3 Data Governance: Rev 10.20.14
E. Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS)
F. Protection of Pupil Rights Amendment (PPRA)
G. Failure to comply with this policy by students may constitute grounds for corrective action in accordance with Dothan City Schools’ policies. Further, penalties associated with state and federal laws may apply. Possible disciplinary/corrective action may be instituted for, but is not limited to, the following:
1. Unauthorized disclosure of PII (Personally Identifiable Information) or Confidential Information.
2. Unauthorized disclosure of a login code (User ID and password).
3. An attempt to obtain a login code or password that belongs to another person.
4. An attempt to use another person's login code or password.
5. Unauthorized use of an authorized password to invade student or employee privacy by examining records or information for which there has been no request for review.
6. Installation or use of unlicensed software on Dothan City School technological systems.
7. The intentional unauthorized altering, destruction, or disposal of Dothan City Schools’ information, data and/or systems. This includes the unauthorized removal from DCS of technological systems such as but not limited to laptops, internal or external storage, computers, servers, backups or other media, copiers, etc. that contain PII or confidential information.
8. An attempt to gain access to login codes for purposes other than for support by authorized technology staff, including the completion of fraudulent documentation to gain access.
Dothan City Schools Technology Usage Policy
Dothan City Schools Acceptable Use Policy
INTRODUCTION: Electronic instructional materials are selected by Dothan City School System to implement, enrich, and support the educational program for students. These materials must serve both the breadth of the curriculum and the needs and interests of individual students and employees. To this end, policies must be in place to assure the selection of materials of the highest quality and appropriateness. The policies contained within this document are to serve as legal and acceptable use of the Dothan City Schools network (DCSNet), as well as, copyright and acceptable use of video and software within the classroom environment.
DCSNet Acceptable Use Policy establishes policies and guidelines for the use of Internet and the Dothan City School System's wide area network for students and Dothan City School System's employees. The use of this electronic resource is a privilege not a right. Failure to adhere to the policy will result in the revocation of the user’s access privilege. At school, student access to the DCSNet and the use of the Internet will be under teacher direction and will be monitored as any other classroom activity.
We recognize that the use of technology always requires attempts to balance the benefits against the possibilities of danger, security problems, and abuse. Rapid changes in technology and growth in the range of content available makes this a constant challenge. Thus, it is the intention of Dothan City Schools that all technology resources will be used in accordance with any and all school system policies and procedures as well as local, state, and federal laws and/or guidelines governing the usage of technology and its component parts. Additionally, it is implied that all students and employees of Dothan City Schools will use the provided technology resources so as not to waste them, abuse them, interfere with or cause harm to other individuals, institutions, or companies.
• The administrators of each school will be responsible for establishing specific practices to enforce this policy at individual schools.
• All Dothan City School students and employees shall review and adhere to this policy for access to the DCSNet. Employees shall sign, and return the Dothan City Schools DCSNet and Internet Application and Contract to the DCS Personnel Department. Students and guardians of students must sign and return the Dothan City Schools Student Internet And/Or Email Permission Form for Internet and/or email use within Dothan City Schools.
• Highlights of this policy will be prominently displayed in all computer labs and posted on the Dothan City Schools district technology webpage.
• All Dothan City Schools technology resources, regardless of purchase date, location, or fund, are subject to this policy as well as the purchasing and disposal guidelines set forth by the Dothan City Schools accounting department.
• Some of these policies pertain to technology equipment personally owned by school employees and students and brought into school facilities. All personal technologies used on any Dothan City School campus are subject to this policy and may be used only if such usage is in compliance with all school system policies, procedures, and guidelines as well as local, state, and federal laws.
• All electronic content stored on any external storage medium or personal off-site storage location that is brought to or accessed from a Dothan City Schools campus is subject to all school system policies and guidelines as well as local, state, and federal laws.
• Any questions about this policy, its interpretation, or specific circumstances shall be directed to the Director of Technology Services (DTS) before proceeding.
• Violations of this policy will be handled in a manner consistent with the Dothan City Schools Code of Conduct and/or Dothan City Schools Personnel Policy Manual.
• Each school will name a SYSop. The SYSop will assist with the enforcing of this policy.
I. LIMITATION OF LIABILITY:
A. The Dothan City School System makes no guarantee that the functions of the services provided by or through DCSNet will be error-free or without defect.
B. The Dothan City School System will not be responsible or liable for:
• any damage suffered, including but not limited to, loss data or interruptions of service
• the accuracy or quality of the information obtained through or stored on the system
• financial obligations arising through the unauthorized use of the system
• any information collected or disseminated through DCSNet by any un-authorized individual(s)
II. ACCESS:
A. The use of all Dothan City Schools technology resources is a privilege, not a right, and inappropriate or suspected inappropriate use will result in a cancellation of those privileges pending investigation. Moreover, users of Dothan City Schools technology must be aware that Dothan City Schools cannot assume any liability arising out of the illegal or inappropriate use of technology resources.
B. Users should not have any expectation that their usage of such resources is private. Reasonable efforts will be taken to maintain security of technology resources, but Dothan City Schools cannot ensure that such security will not be penetrated or breached, and cannot assume any liability arising out of any such penetration or breach of security.
C. Users should not purchase or dispose of software, hardware, peripherals, or other technology related devices without consulting the technology staff. All personnel should adhere to the purchasing and disposal guidelines set forth by the Dothan City Schools accounting department when purchasing or disposing of technology items.
D. Individuals may use only accounts, files, software, and/or other technology resources that are assigned to, provided to, or approved for him/her.
E. Individuals may not attempt to log in to the network using any network account and/or password other than the login(s) assigned to him/her or allow someone to use his/her network account and/or password to access the network, email, or the Internet.
F. Individuals must take all reasonable precautions to prevent unauthorized access to accounts and data and any other unauthorized usage within and outside Dothan City Schools. Any such unauthorized usage shall be reported immediately to the school principal and/or the DTS.
G. Individuals identified as a security risk may be denied access.
H. Any use of technology resources that reduces the efficiency of use for others will be considered a violation of this policy.
I. Individuals must not attempt to disrupt any computer services or data by engaging in activities including, without limitation, spreading viruses, spamming, excess network and/or Internet activity, or modification of equipment or infrastructure.
J. Individuals must not attempt to modify technology resources, utilities, and configurations, or change the restrictions associated with his/her accounts, or attempt to breach any technology resources security system or filtering system, either with or without malicious intent.
K. Personal technology related devices such as but not limited to laptops, PDAs, smartphones, iPods, etc. used on school grounds are subject to all items covered in this policy and should not access local area network or wide area network resources without the explicit permission of the technology staff. Public Internet access is available for visiting devices and is subject to the conditions outlined in this policy and all other school system policies and guidelines as well as local, state, and federal laws.
L. The DTS and/or school system administrators will determine when inappropriate use has occurred and they have the right to deny, revoke, or suspend specific user accounts.
M. No network device such as a switch, hub, router, access point or print server shall be allowed on the DCSNet unless provided or approved by the Technology Services staff.
III. PRIVACY:
A. To maintain network integrity and to insure that the network is being used responsibly, the DTS and/or other designated technology staff reserve the right to inspect any and all data, including data stored by individual users on individual school or personal devices. Users should be aware that activities may be monitored at any time, without notice.
B. Users should not have any expectation that their use of technology resources, including files stored by them on the DCSNet, will be private and will be secure from access by others. Reasonable steps will be taken to maintain the security of technology resources, but no assurance can be given that penetration of such security will not occur.
C. Because communications on the Internet are, often, public in nature, all users should be careful to maintain appropriate and responsible communications.
D. Dothan City Schools cannot guarantee the privacy, security, or confidentiality of any information sent or received, either via the Internet, an email facility, telephone, or otherwise.
E. Users are encouraged to avoid storing personal and/or private information on the district and/or schools’ technology resources.
F. The system-wide technology staff does perform routine backups in an effort to assure continuity of business. There can be no assurance, however, that technology resources will be available within a particular time frame following an outage and, in particular, that information that existed prior to an outage or malfunction, or that existed prior to a deliberate or inadvertent deletion, can be recovered. Users are responsible, without limitation, for the maintenance and backup of critical files and/or data.
G. Reasonable steps and procedures will be taken to secure student records, media center collections and accounting information. Such information shall be backed up in a routine manner.
IV. COPYRIGHT:
A. Illegal copies of software may not be created or used on school equipment.
B. Any questions about copyright provisions should be directed to the DTS.
C. Aspects involving the legal and ethical practices of appropriate use of technology resources will be taught to all students and employees in the system (i.e. as part of the Technology Education Curriculum, during lab orientation, network orientation, faculty meetings, etc). There can be no assurance as to the extent and effectiveness of such training. Again, all questions regarding legal and ethical practices of appropriate use should be directed to the DTS.
D. Copyright is implied for all information (text, data, and graphics) published on the Internet. Web page authors will be held responsible for the contents of their pages. Do not "borrow" icons, sounds, or graphics from other pages without documented permission. It is the user’s responsibility to secure proper usage permission.
E. Duplication of any copyrighted software is prohibited unless specifically allowed for in the license agreement and then, should occur only under the supervision and direction of the Technology staff.
F. A backup copy of all purchased software programs should be made and, thus, become the working copy.
G. All original copies of software programs, including those purchased with departmental funds, will be stored in a secure place.
H. For security and insurance purposes, the local SYSop, technology aides, and/or the district level technology staff will be the only people with access to original software disks at a given school location with the exception of CD-ROMs required when accessing the program. System-wide software originals will be housed at the DTS office.
I. In almost every case, a single copy of a given software package is purchased; it may only be used on one computer at a time. Multiple loading or "loading the contents of one disk onto multiple computers," (1987 Statement on Software Copyright) is NOT allowed.
J. If more than one copy of a software package is needed, a site license, lab pack, network version, or Internet portal license must be purchased. The DTS and/or the person requesting the software will be responsible for determining how many copies should be purchased.
K. Either the DTS or respective school principal is authorized to sign license agreements for a school within the system. Copies of any system-wide license agreements must be signed by the DTS and/or Superintendent and distributed to all schools that will use the software.
L. The District technology staff is responsible for installation of all software in use on the wide area network, local area network and/or individual workstations/laptops within the Dothan City Schools. Technology lab aides or other designated staff may install software on local workstations with permission by the DTS.
M. Users are expected to be familiar with and adhere to the current Copyright and Fair Use Guidelines for Teachers posted on the Dothan City Schools web site.
V. EMAIL:
E-mail is considered in the same category as paper transmissions in the matter of public records. As defined in the Code of Alabama 1975, Section 36-12-2, e-mail is a public record when it is created by a Dothan City School System employee in the course of conducting school business, and when it documents the activities and business of school employees. These emails shall include any messages, calendars and attachments as public record. Student created e-mail is not considered a public record. All student created e-mail, including messages, calendars and attachments may be reviewed by supervising teacher, principal or administrator.
A. Dothan City Schools provides access to email for all employees; upon request, generic accounts for employee sponsored organizations and classes; and on a limited basis, with teacher or principal recommendation and written guardian permission, for secondary students.
B. Technical support is provided for Dothan City Schools email accounts used to conduct educational and/or instructional business.
C. Personal use of email is permitted as long as it does not violate Dothan City Schools policy and/or adversely affect others or the speed of the network. Employees should use their Dothan City Schools email account for all school related email correspondence.
D. When employing email, all employees are responsible for maintaining professionalism at all times. Email communication sometimes lends itself to impulsive and to informal communication. Employees must be constantly mindful of the need to carefully review and reconsider email communications before responding to and/or sending email. Dothan City Schools email accounts may not be used for political activity, personal gain, commercial purposes, or profit.
F. Dothan City Schools email accounts may not be used for attempting to send or sending anonymous messages.
G. Dothan City Schools email accounts may not be used for sending mass emails unless to parent lists or other for educational purposes.
H. Dothan City Schools email accounts may not be used for posting or forwarding other user's personal communication without the author's consent.
I. Because e-mail is not necessarily securely transmitted, discretion must be used when sending, or encouraging the receipt of email containing sensitive information about students, families, school system employees, or any individuals. There can be no assurance that email will be confidential and/or private.
J. Dothan City Schools make a reasonable effort to maintain (backup) email for normal business operations. Backups are maintained for a maximum of 13 days. Deleted email is purged every 7 days.
K. Users required to maintain email for an extended period, for public record, or email in excess of the user’s email quota must print said emails. The technology staff, Dothan City Schools administrative staff, or the Dothan City Board of Education does not support or advocate the use of email archives.
L. Incoming and outgoing email is filtered by the District for inappropriate content. However, no filtering system is foolproof and material deemed inappropriate by individual users may be transmitted in spite of filtering.
M. Email records may be requested in accordance with the Dothan City Schools Board of Education policy: FIIe:BE.
VI. INTERNET USE:
A. The intent of the Dothan City Schools is to provide access to resources available via the Internet with the understanding that staff and students will access and use information that is appropriate for the various curricula.
B. All school rules and guidelines for appropriate technology usage as well as local, state, and federal laws apply to usage of the Internet.
C. Teachers should screen all Internet resources before projecting them in the classroom.
D. Students gain access to the Internet by agreeing to conduct themselves in a considerate and responsible manner and by providing written permission from their parent(s)/guardian(s).
E. Students are allowed to conduct independent research on the Internet upon the receipt of the Dothan City Schools Student Internet And/Or Email Permission Form.
F. Permission is not transferable, and therefore, may not be shared. Existing permission forms are valid until new forms are received. Students are not required to have new forms signed when changing schools.
G. Students who are allowed independent access to the Internet have the capability of accessing material that has not been screened.
H. Internet activity can and will be monitored, along with other aspects of technology usage.
I. Internet access for all users is filtered, through one central point, by URL (web address) and by IP address and may be filtered by keyword. All Internet sites that may be considered harmful to students will be filtered.
J. URLs (web addresses) and IP addresses may be added to or deleted from the filtered list by the District Technology staff.
K. Staff members may request to review filtered categories. Users requesting sites for blocking or unblocking, must list specific URLs.
L. Successful or unsuccessful attempts to bypass the Internet filter by using proxies or other resources are a violation of this policy.
M. Users will not post or transmit any personal contact information about themselves or other people. Personal information includes: home and/or school address, work address, home and/or school phone numbers, full name, social security number, etc. Exceptions include college registrations, online tests and any other DCS approved use.
N. Users shall not agree to meet with anyone they have met on-line.
O. Users shall promptly disclose to his/her immediate supervisor such as teacher, principal, DTS or the network system administrator, any message received that is inappropriate or makes the user feel uncomfortable.
VII. WEB PUBLISHING:
A. The Dothan City Schools web site is limited to usage associated with activities of Dothan City Schools. The web site cannot be used for profit, for commercial purposes, to express personal opinions, or to editorialize.
B. The Technology Services staff and/or the Director of Information Systems reserves the right to reject all or part of a proposed and/or posted web page.
C. All pages posted on the Dothan City Schools web site must be designed and/or written with an approved editor.
D. Each Dothan City Schools webpage should clearly state the person responsible for the content.
E. All posted work must be of publishable quality with regard to spelling, usage, and mechanics.
F. All web page authors are responsible for the maintenance of their own pages.
G. All links should be checked regularly to make sure they are current and working. Pages that are not updated in a timely fashion; that contain inaccurate or inappropriate information; that violate copyright laws and/or that contain links which do not work will be removed; the author will be notified.
H. Unfinished pages should not be posted until they are fully functional.
I. A teacher’s primary web page should be housed on the Dothan City School web site; however, the page may contain a link or links to teacher created web pages stored on a different commercial or private server. In this event, these pages should adhere to all Dothan City School policies as well as local, state, and federal laws.
J. Links from pages housed on the Dothan City Schools website to personal blogs, social networking sites, advertisements unrelated to school system business, and/or personal web pages are prohibited.
K. Pictures and other personally identifiable information should only be used with permission in writing from the parent/guardian of the student involved. No full names should be used, only first name, last initial. No written permission is required for in-school broadcasts (i.e. morning news, announcements, class profiles, etc.)
L. Student posting of personal information of any kind on the Dothan City School website or linking to personal information from the Dothan City School website is prohibited. Personal information includes: home and/or school address, work address, home and/or school phone numbers, full name, social security number, etc.
M. No written permission is required to list faculty/staff and their school contact information (phone extension, email address, etc.)
N. Permission for publishing employee photographs on the Dothan City School website is assumed unless the employee specifies otherwise in writing to their direct supervisor.
O. Infringement of copyright laws, obscene, harassing or threatening materials on web sites are against the law and are subject to prosecution.
VIII. AUDIOVISUAL:
A. Educators are permitted to use videos if (1) legitimate copies, not pirated copies are used, and (2) videos are used as part of face-to-face instruction (teaching activities) by a teacher, and not for entertainment, reward or extra-curricular activities or behavior modification activities. A copy made of a video owned by another person or rented is not legal unless permission to make a copy is first secured from the copyright owner.
B. The use of a video in a school is considered public performance for which a license must be obtained. The use in direct instruction
C. An off-air recording can be made only when requested by a teacher. is the exception which provides "fair use" of videos in a school. If a school desires to use videos for these activities, public performance rights must be obtained. Video rental stores cannot grant this right.
D. A recording cannot be made and held until the subject matter is needed for instruction. A recording may be shown not more than two times within 10 days of the broadcast with the second showing only for instructional reinforcement. It may be kept 45 days before it has to be erased.
E. Students are not allowed to tape programs at home and bring them to school to be shown.
F. Cable network channels such as Disney, Discovery, or CNN, for example, cannot be recorded. There are exceptions for some programs of educational value which may be recorded. Permission information can be obtained from the cable networks or cable providers.
G. Teachers should keep in mind, at all times, the appropriateness of the content and the educational value of all audiovisual materials used in the classroom.
H. Each user of audiovisual media will adhere to the copyright law and this policy governing audiovisual use.
I. Rental videos shall not be shown.
J. Unauthorized copies of copyrighted videos shall not be made or used.
K. No audiovisual materials shall be shown without approval of the school principal. See the Dothan City Schools Audiovisual Evaluation and Request Form on the Dothan City School’s web site.
L. Users are expected to be familiar with and adhere to the current Copyright and Fair Use Guidelines for Teachers posted on the Dothan City Schools web site.
IX. PARENTAL PERMISSIONS:
It is the responsibility of the staff posting information on the web, requesting videos, or designing publicity or public relations information to obtain written parental permission. X. EXAMPLES OF INAPPROPRIATE USE OF RESOURCES: The following are examples of inappropriate activities when using any Dothan City School network, email system, hardware, software, technology service, and/or Internet access:
A. Using another user's password or attempting to find out what another user's password is
B. Sharing your own password
C. Trespassing in another user's files, folders, home directory, or work
D. Saving information on ANY network drive or directory other than your personal home directory OR a teacher specified and approved location
E. Downloading, installing, or copying software of any kind onto a workstation, your home directory, or any network drive
F. Harassing, insulting, embarrassing, or attacking others via technology resources
G. Damaging technology resources including but not limited to printers, telephones, computers, computer systems, or computer networks (this includes changing workstation configurations such as screen savers, backgrounds, printers, BIOS information, preset passwords, etc.)
H. Intentionally wasting limited resources such as Internet bandwidth, disk space and printing capacity
I. Accessing inappropriate material from off-site storage locations and/or removable storage devices
J. Accessing inappropriate material from web sites or attempting to bypass the Internet filter to access web sites that have been blocked (sites containing information that is, for example, violent; illegal; satanic; sexual; demeaning; racist; inflammatory; and/or categorized as a social networking, blogging, or journaling, etc.)
K. Sending, displaying, or downloading offensive messages or pictures
L. Using obscene, racist, profane, discriminatory, threatening, or inflammatory language in a document, email, etc.
M. Using a digital camera, camera phone, or any other device capable of storing a still or video image to take inappropriate or embarrassing pictures without the subject’s knowledge and/or consent
N. Excluding modifications made while working on an authorized school/school system publication or under the supervision of a teacher, editing/modifying digital pictures without the consent of the subject especially with the intent to embarrass, harass, or bully
O. Plagiarizing written words, pictures, music and/or other media types accessible through the DCSNet or the Internet
P. Using the DCSNet for commercial purposes or profit including offering, providing or purchasing products or services
Q. Using the DCSNet for political lobbying
R. Knowingly or recklessly posting or transmitting false or defamatory information about a person or organization.