By Steven Curto
A student uses her her school-issued MacBook Air to do school work on the program Canvas during seminar on Monday, Sept. 9.
New rules and policies implemented with introduction of MacBooks
September 18, 2019
With regulations on the MacBooks, some students have attempted to creatively work around the limitations. The district is no stranger to student circumvention of district technology policies, so they were prepared to crack down on violations of the district’s technology policy.
The district published an information handbook for the MacBooks, available on the district website, outlining an extensive 22-point list of Acceptable Use Policy restrictions. The list features rules like “[students may not] attempt to install any unapproved software on district devices” and “[students may not] expect [their] email, files, directories, network access, or data transmitted on all devices while on school grounds to be private.”
According to associate principal Marilyn Chrisler, punishment for students who break the handbook policy will generally be uniform across the board. The consequence for rule violating will be taking away student’s MacBook privileges – including the MacBook itself – for two weeks.
Based on the MacBook damage and repair policy, the first time a device is damaged, the district repair or replace it for free. The second instance results in a $50 fine to supplement the cost. For the third instance, this fine will increase to $75. After the third occurrence of damage, the student must pay the repair cost in full.
Chrisler notes, however, that this policy does not pertain to all instances of device damage; students will not be held accountable for general mechanical issues.
“If it’s something that is mechanical or something within the device itself that has broken – like a keyboard – and you didn’t damage it, it would be under the [district’s] insurance policy,” Chrisler said. “But if any damage is acquired by the student, they’re responsible.”