Student Tip Line

Help keep our school safe for all! Submit a tip to [email protected] and you will remain anonymous throughout the investigation process. 

Assembly Bill 2291, which became effective on January 1, 2019, requires that local educational agencies (LEAs) adopt, on or before December 31, 2019, procedures for preventing acts of bullying, including cyberbullying. It requires that the California Department of Education (CDE) post a list of available online training modules relating to bullying or bullying prevention in addition to the existing CDE training module and that LEAs make training available to certificated and all other school site employees who have regular interaction with students. The CDE list of resources may be accessed at the following link: https://www.cde.ca.gov/ls/ss/se/bullyres.asp

Ivy Academia Charter School is committed to providing a working and learning environment. Ivy prohibits discrimination, harassment, intimidation and bullying based on actual or perceived race, sex, sexual orientation, gender (including gender identity, gender expression, pregnancy, childbirth, breastfeeding, and pregnancy-related medical conditions), ethnic group identification, race, ancestry, national origin, religion, color, mental or physical status, marital status, registered domestic partner status, age (40 and above), genetic information, political belief or affiliation (not union related), a person’s association with a person or group with one or more of these actual or perceived characteristics, or any other basis protected by federal, state or local law, ordinance, or regulation in any program or activity it conducts or to which it provides significant assistance.

Digital Citizenship

Digital Citizenship is a concept explored by our school to help students understand how to appropriately and effectively make use of their access to technology. Digital Citizenship is important for 21st Century Skills, because it means that students can collaborate and communicate in a safe and responsible manner. Being a Digital Citizen includes having email etiquette, reporting and preventing cyber bullying, learning how to protect private information,

and knowing how to navigate the digital world through the use of our school’s technology.

Use of Charter School Technology

Use of Charter School equipment and access to the Internet via Charter School equipment and resource networks is intended to serve and pursue educational goals and purposes. Student use of the Internet is therefore limited to only those activities that further or enhance the delivery of an educational purpose. Students and staff have a duty to use Charter School resources only in a manner specified in the Policy.

Notice and Acceptable Use and Device Check-out Agreement

The Charter School shall notify students and parents/guardians about authorized uses of Charter School computers, user obligations and responsibilities, and consequences for unauthorized use and/or unlawful activities. Before a student is authorized to use the Charter School’s technological resources, the student and the student’s parent/guardian shall sign and return the Acceptable Use and Device Check-out Agreement specifying user obligations

and responsibilities. In that agreement, the student and the student’s parent/guardian shall agree not to hold the Charter School or any Charter School staff responsible for the failure of any technology protection measures, violations of copyright restrictions, or user mistakes or negligence. They shall also agree to indemnify and hold harmless the Charter School and Charter School personnel for any damages or costs incurred.

Safety

It is the policy of Ivy Academia to:

• prevent user access over its computer network to, or transmission of, inappropriate material via
  
• Internet, electronic mail, or other forms of direct electronic communications;
  
• prevent unauthorized access and other unlawful online activity;
  
• prevent unauthorized online disclosure, use, or dissemination of personal identification information of minors; and
  
• comply with the Children’s Internet Protection Act.
  

The Charter School shall ensure that all Charter School computers with Internet access have a technology protection measure that blocks or filters Internet access to websites that have no educational purpose and/or contain visual depictions that are obscene, constitute child pornography, or that are harmful to minors. While the Charter School is able to exercise reasonable control over content created and purchased by the Charter School, it has limited control over content accessed via the internet and no filtering system is 100% effective. Neither the Charter School nor its staff shall be responsible for the failure of any technology protection measures, violations of copyright restrictions, or user mistakes, misuse or negligence.

For the 2022-23 school year, Ivy Academia has adopted Linewize, and the associated classroom device management tool, Classwize, a content filtering and cyber safety management system. Additionally, parents have access to the Family Zone Community with technology and social media information and resources. To reinforce these measures, the Director of Information Services or designee shall implement rules and procedures designed to restrict students' access to harmful or inappropriate matter on the Internet and to ensure that students do not engage in unauthorized or unlawful online activities. Staff shall monitor students while they are using Charter School computers, laptops, or tablets to access the internet or online services on Charter School’s campus and may have teacher aides, student aides, and volunteers assist in this monitoring. Parents/guardians are required to supervise and monitor their child’s use of Charter School equipment including but not limited to their child’s access to the internet and any online services through such equipment any and all times during which any Charter School equipment is being used by their child outside school facilities or school hours to ensure compliance with this policy.

The Director of Information Services or designee also shall establish regulations to address the safety and security of students and student information when using email, chat rooms, and other forms of direct electronic communication. The Director of Information Services or designees shall provide age-appropriate instruction regarding safe and appropriate behavior on social networking sites, chat rooms, and other Internet services. Such instruction shall include,

but not be limited to, maintaining the student’s online reputation and ensuring their personal safety by keeping their personal information private, the dangers of posting personal information online, misrepresentation by online predators, how to report inappropriate or offensive content or threats, behaviors that constitute cyberbullying, and how to respond when subjected to cyberbullying.[1] Students are expected to follow safe practices when using Charter

School technology.

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[1] “Bullying” means any severe or pervasive physical or verbal act or conduct, including communications made in writing or by means of an electronic act, and including one or more acts committed by a pupil or group of pupils, directed toward one or more pupils that has or can be reasonably predicted to have one or more of the following effects:

• Placing a reasonable pupil or pupils in fear of harm to that pupil’s or those pupil’s person or property.
• Causing a reasonable pupil to experience a substantially detrimental effect on his or her physical or mental health.
• Causing a reasonable pupil to experience substantial interference with his or her academic performance.
• Causing a reasonable pupil to experience substantial interference with his or her ability to participate in or benefit from the services, activities, or privileges provided by the school.

As used in connection with “bullying,” an “electronic act” means the creation or transmission originated on or off the school site, by means of an electronic device, including, but not limited to, a telephone, wireless telephone, or other wireless communication device, computer, or pager, of a communication, including, but not limited to, any of the following:

• A message, text, sound, video, or image.
• A post on a social network Internet Web site, including, but not limited to:
• An act of cyber sexual bullying. The term “cyber sexual bullying” means the dissemination of, or the solicitation or incitement to disseminate, a photograph or other visual recording by a pupil to another pupil or to school personnel by means of an electronic act that has or can be reasonably predicted to have one or more of the effects of bullying. A photograph or other visual recording, as described above, shall include the depiction of a nude, semi-nude, or sexually explicit photograph or other visual recording of a minor where the minor is identifiable from the photograph, visual recording, or other electronic act. The term “cyber sexual bullying” does not include a depiction, portrayal, or image that has any serious literary, artistic, educational, political, or scientific value or that involves athletic events or school-sanctioned activities.
  

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Students shall not use the Internet to perform any illegal act or to help others perform illegal acts. Illegal acts include, but are not limited to, any activities in violation of local, state, and federal law and/or accessing information designed to further criminal or dangerous activities. Such information includes, but is not limited to, information that if acted upon could cause damage, present a danger, or cause disruption to the Charter School, other students, or the

community. Damaging, debilitating or disabling computers, computer networks or systems through the intentional or overuse of electronic distribution or the spreading of computer viruses or other harmful programs shall be prohibited. Any unauthorized online access to other computers by means of hacking into other computers, downloading hacker tools such as port scanners and password crackers designed to evade restrictions shall also be strictly prohibited.

Student use of Charter School computers to access social networking sites is not prohibited, but access is limited to educational purposes only. To the extent possible, the Director of Information Services or designee shall block access to such sites on Charter School computers with Internet access. The Director of Information Services or designee shall oversee the maintenance of the Charter School’s technological resources and may establish guidelines and limits on their use.

All employees shall receive a copy of this policy and the Acceptable Use and Device Check-out Agreement describing expectations for appropriate use of the system and shall also be provided with information about the role of staff in supervising student use of technological resources. All employees shall comply with this policy and the Acceptable Use Agreement, in addition to any separate policies governing employee use of technology.

Student use of Charter School’s computers, networks, and Internet services is a privilege, not a right. Compliance with the Charter School’s policies and rules concerning computer use is mandatory. Students who violate these policies and rules may have their computer privileges limited and may be subject to discipline, including but not limited to suspension or expulsion per school policy.