Orange County Public Schools, Orange County Virginia
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Internet Safety

Internet safety is important to us in the Orange County Public School system. We have several measures in place that help protect children while using the internet within our system. In accordance with Va. Code § 22.1-70.2, Orange County Public Schools has included internet safety into elementary, middle, and high school curriculums. Listed below are some of the steps that we have taken to help protect students online:

1. All students and employees are prohibited from participating in any illegal activity using school equipment and communication services through our school divisions Acceptable Use Policy(AUP).
2. All internet traffic passes through an IPRISM filtering device that allows us to block offensive material. The IPRISM blocks material on a group policy basis or can be used to block websites individually.
3. All network traffic is routed through the IPRISM. When anyone logs onto one of our division computers their internet activity will be subjected to IPRISM filtering.
4. We also employ a WATCHGUARD firewall within our system that will help block outside attacks directed at our system. We can monitor all traffic through the firewall as well as through the IPRISM.
5. Through our IPRISM policy we provide blanket protection for children by blocking access to on-line chat rooms and other forms of direct online communication.
6. The IPRISM policy is also designed to prevent access to sites that contain information on unlawful activities, such as "hacking".
7. Through Internet Safety education, we inform children of the dangers of unauthorized disclosure, use, and dissemination of personal information and the effects that it may have. We conduct Internet Safety education in technology lab connect classes at the K-5 levels, in keyboarding classes at the middle school level,  in several of our business and technology courses at the high school level, and we offer high school teachers several resources so that they can incorporate Internet Safety into daily lesson plans.
8. We also offer parent/guardian information at all Back to School nights, Parent/Teacher Conferences, and PTO meetings.
9. No student’s name is linked to their picture on the OCPS website and confidential student information is not available to Internet users.