Students in the Williamsburg-James City County School District may soon be able to use their personal laptops, tablets and smartphones for educational use during class time.
A draft of a new policy shows the school board is considering implementing a Bring Your Own Device program, similar to the one York County schools have in place. The WJCC five-year plan shows the implementation of the program would be in the 2013-14 school year.
The WJCC school district has a separate network in place for the BYOD program. If the policy is approved, students will be able to connect to that network to use their devices for educational purposes.
The policy says students bringing their devices to school can expect diminished privacy in using the device.
“The school reserves the right to search a privately owned electronic device in accordance with applicable laws and policies if there is reasonable suspicion that the student has violated federal or state law, WJCC policies, administrative procedures or engaged in other misconduct while using the device,” the policy reads.
The BYOD program comes with a set of 21 rules detailing acceptable usage of the network and devices during school hours.
Do Not
- Use the device during class time for anything other than instructional activities the teacher is directing
- Use the internet through a personal service provider while an instructional activity is happening
- Establish a peer-to-peer network or any sort of wireless intranet
- Connect personal devices by cable to the WJCC network
- Take pictures, record voice or video without written permission from a teacher
- Use another student’s log-in information
- Attempt to gain access to any school division computer or network without the consent of an authorized school division employee
- Use any software to get around blocked sites
- Hold WJCC responsible for lost or stolen devices
Do
- Turn off or put away the device at a teacher’s request
- Mute the device unless a teacher says it’s OK to leave its sound on
The school board was presented the new policy at Tuesday night’s work session and offered no opposition — only praise from Board Member Jim Kelly (Jamestown).
“This has been a long time coming,” Kelly said.
The policy is expected to return before the board at the Nov. 18 meeting for a vote.