Review of an AUP

According to the National Education Association, they suggest that an effective AUP should contain the six elements of a preamble, definition section, policy statement, acceptable uses section, unacceptable uses section and a violations/sanctions section.  After contacting my children’s principal and getting a copy of the AUP, I quickly realized their policy does not follow the NEA suggested format.  The first thing I noticed was the name.  The district does not call it an AUP.  They refer to it as an Acceptable Use Agreement for the staff and then an appropriate use of electronic devises for students.  There are also a few other policies which govern a students use of the internet and use of electronic devices.  So there is not just one policy to cover everything.  I looked through the staff and student policies and both of them got right into the “meat and potatoes.”  Neither one really had a preamble and very short definition sections.  Both jumped right into the policy statement and acceptable/unacceptable uses.  Instead of using the 6 sections from the NEA as headers, they had sections such a privacy, passwords and logins, student use and privileges.  Acceptable uses are information accessed for the accomplishment of the educational mission, while the unacceptable section was about 3x’s as long (nothing racist, showing hatred, sexual in nature to name a view).  Both of them did have violations/sanctions sections so the users know what will happen (permissions revoked, suspension) if they violate the policy.  The district is trying to make sure their policies align with the Child Internet Protection Act.  Both policies where last reviewed over the summer of 2015.