Protocol/Responsibility

Requirements

Web Publishing Recommendations

Web Technologies Supported on District Server(s)            Staff Web Page Directory

• Each school is responsible for the development and updates of their pages. In addition, teachers at each HISD campus are encouraged to develop and maintain their own classroom web pages.  The Technology department will offer training and support for designated staff members at each campus.

• It is strongly encouraged that the principal designates a Web page committee. This committee may be made up of administrators, teachers, paraprofessionals, parents, community members, and students. The chairman must be a designated staff member.*

• Each school is responsible for acquiring parental consent prior to posting any student’s name, picture, art, written work, voice, verbal statements or portraits (video or still) on the school's web pages. This form must be signed by the parent(s) and student, and filed at the campus each year.

• The web page files will be posted to the district web server by the Technology department. At no time will files be posted that are submitted directly by students.

• Pages that contain time-sensitive information, such as: calendars, school events, staff information, must be updated monthly to insure current, accurate information. The Technology Department will post web page files as received. Web pages must be checked monthly to make sure that links work.
• All Web pages must have a title (which appears on the Web browser’s title bar). Each school’s main homepage must include the school’s name, address, phone number, a link to Hereford ISD, and a school contact’s HISD email address. Each page must (at minimum) contain a link back to the previous level in the school’s site, and a link to the site’s main navigational page
• The Hereford Independent School District Web Servers are for educational use only. Contents of the site should give information and promote school activities (classes, staff, departments, sports, school projects, calendars, volunteering opportunities, etc.) Information concerning non-curricular student groups may not be posted to the school's Web pages.

  External Links (Links to sites and content that is not hosted on an official Hereford ISD Web server)

  • Commercial Links

    Certain fundraising information and links may be allowed, such as "shopforschool.com" or "marketday.com". These company links should have administrative approval.

    All other commercials, commercial transactions, or advertisements are prohibited on school pages.

  • Educational Links

  External links should be allowed as approved by the building principal.  All external links must be checked frequently to insure that the links remain active.

• All official school and district sites must be hosted on Hereford ISD Web servers. 
• Teachers may post personal classroom pages with their school's Web site following the same protocol and guidelines presented in this document.
• Files hosted on the Hereford ISD Web server(s) and hyperlinks from these files should not contain information that is in violation of (or promotes the violation of) any district policy or regulation nor any local, state, or federal regulation or law. 
• Staff members' HISD email addresses are posted, as public information, on the district's main Web site at http://www.herefordisd.net .  Staff members' HISD email addresses should also be posted on each school's Web site. (It is recommended that schools also include telephone extensions and staff photos, if available.)
• The following student information is generally acceptable to include, if parent(s) have given permission/consent to use it per district release form, on a school's web page.
  • Student’s picture or work with first name only.
  
  No other personal information about a student is allowed, such as email address, phone number, home address.
• Unauthorized use of copyrighted material is prohibited. Giving credit (web address or active link) to a company that has created a graphic, design, etc. for a school page may be allowed, unless the Bess filter blocks the site. 
• If a school wants a Web page counter on its site, it must be an "invisible" counter type only.
• Prohibited items include:
  • Personal information about staff and parent volunteers: non-district email addresses, non-district mailing address, and non-district phone numbers except as approved by the building principal. Example: The Whiteface Booster Club officer/contact requests to have their personal email address listed in the appropriate area on the school's page(s) and principal approves the request. Note: Pictures and names of staff and parent volunteers will be allowed with principal’s approval.
  • Student personal contact information of any kind
  • Links to staff, volunteer or student personal home pages
  • Links to "non-official" HISD related sites that are hosted on remote/external (non-district) web servers unless approved by HISD - Examples: athletic booster pages, PTA pages, teacher created classroom pages, etc. 
    
    However, booster organizations, PTA, teachers, etc. may post their pages on their school's Web site following the same protocol and guidelines presented in this document.
     
  • "Guest books", "chat areas", "message boards", or similar
  • Links to sites that are not accessible inside the network (through the "Bess" filter) 

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• The following information can be included on school pages: welcome from the principal, general information about the school (namesake, history, when the school opened, last renovation, etc.), event information (calendar, upcoming meetings, special programs, days off, early release days, etc.), pertinent information from student and parent handbooks (policies and procedures on attendance, discipline, tardy, etc.), copy of school newsletter, link to attendance area information, link to testing information, student homework help and assignments, recognition of students and teachers, parenting information to help parents tutor or assist their children, and fundraising activities.
• Use a consistent style on the school’s main pages. (Individual departments, grade levels, programs, etc. may vary, but the administrative and general information pages should maintain consistency in look and navigation.)
• Pages should be sized so they will display properly in a variety of screen resolutions. Pages should be previewed and tested at least at "640 x 480", "800 x 600", and "1024 x 768".
• Regular text entries on web pages should be limited to the fonts "Arial" and "Times New Roman" on the PC, or "Helvetica" and "Times" on the Macintosh. Any special fonts should be saved and used as graphics to ensure that they display properly.
• Avoid color schemes or backgrounds that make the information on the page hard to read.
• Colors should be "web safe" as much as possible, so they will display properly in the desired colors.
• Avoid using white text or links (white is difficult to print).
• Graphics should be used judiciously. Photos and other graphics should generally not exceed a total page size that will prevent timely viewing.
• Animated GIF files should be used very sparingly and need to be relatively small. The amount, size, and type of graphics used have the most direct affect on the "load time" of Web pages.
• Video and audio files may be used when they are appropriate and are compressed properly. They are generally large files that take long "load times" for the user, and many times require some users (non-district networked machines) to have special plug-ins or viewers/players, in order to view or hear the files. 

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• The district web server does not support "cgi" scripts
• The district web server does support Microsoft FrontPage Extensions
• All district-networked computers utilize Java capable browsers. Currently, the district supported browser is Internet Explorer 6
   

Hereford ISD School Web Page Guidelines committee members: 
Michael Stevens, Joe Mendez, Sam Curtsinger, Linda Lowe, Elaine McNutt