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Suggested Student Workstation Guidelines

Click here to download Shelbyville's Student Workstation Guidelines in PDF format

We have a large number of student workstations throughout the district. There are some general use guidelines we would suggest all schools should adopt when it comes to students and teachers using the student workstations throughout the district. Most of these guidelines have been successfully used in the elementary buildings for the last two years.

We will start with the most obvious one first. All computer activity and work by students and staff must adhere to all copyright regulations, must comply with all software license agreements and must follow all policies outlined in Shelbyville Central's Acceptable Use Policy.
Classroom teachers must always accompany and supervise their students while students are using computers. Students should never be left unattended while they are using computers.
Students may not use a computer for any reason if they have not returned a signed AUP (Acceptable Use Policy).
Students must receive permission to print material.
Students must restart their computers when they are finished using the computer. This is actually more important than many people realize since a restart "cleans up" the computer for the next student who will be using the computer next. Click here for a listing of the reasons restarting a computer is helpful.
Teachers need to be responsible for leaving any computer lab or computer cluster area neat and clean. Make sure students "tidy up" the area by picking up papers, pencils, pens, and pushing in their chairs.
Fill out a seating chart for each class period. If a problem arises with a specific computer we will be able to track the student that used the computer last.

The BIG List of NO-NO's

NO food (including gum and candy) or drinks allowed around Shelbyville Central computers.
NO games
NO Instant Messaging or online chatting allowed
NO email use by students
NO software installation or program downloads by students
NO music or MP3 downloading, not even legal music and MP3 downloading
NO "burning" of music CD's of any kind using Shelbyville Central computers
NO posting to electronic bulletin boards or message boards
NO changing of computer configuration settings ( i.e.: home page, passwords, screensaver) or altering the desktop display

If a teacher wants his/her students to use computers in a manner that is listed as not being allowed (such as using a chat room for educational purposes), it is our strong recommendation that the teacher should make that request to the building principal in writing with a brief description of why this is necessary.

While we recognize there could be legitimate educational reasons to use the computers in a manner prohibited in the No-No list, it is important to make sure that everyone is on the same page and that the administration is aware of how students are using computers in case any parents may have concerns. This will help protect and support everyone involved, including teachers, students and administration. Submitting something in writing allows everybody to be informed and then everybody is able to support everyone else if questions come up.

Those are the suggested guidelines for student workstations in the district. Below are some explanations for why we suggest some of these guidelines.

Why Restart Student Computers?

This is actually more important than many people realize.

On all student workstations in the district we have a desktop security program installed that prevents students from making permanent changes to the computer. While a student can change the desktop picture or they could activate every toolbar in Word, once the student computer is restarted, it wipes away all changes. Even if a student tries to install or uninstall some program, once the computer is restarted, those changes have been "wiped away" and the computer is restored to it's original configuration.

It will not harm a computer to be restarted a few times a day. In fact, with most desktop security programs it is probably best to restart the computer each time after a student uses it. That is a fairly common practice at many schools and colleges with student workstations that have desktop security programs installed. Restarting is particularly important with many of our Window 98 computers in the district. This should not be a big problem. We have a number of elementary students restarting their computers after they use them for the last couple of years, so I am sure the older students in the district will not have any problems.

There are four main reasons why restarting could be helpful:

Some background services and programs are activated as certain programs are started but those background programs do not necessarily shutdown when the program is closed. Those background programs just take up system resources needlessly. Restarting just "cleans" that up for the next student.
But more importantly, kids can tamper with different things on the computers. They could change toolbars settings in different programs, change operational settings on the computer or even install/uninstall software. With the desktop security program installed, a restart "cleans up" whatever the previous student may have been tampering with or downloading and gives the next student a fresh operating system.
The automated shutdown process at the end of the day works better if the computer has been restarted and the Novell login screen is showing on the monitor. This is especially true for the Windows 98 workstations we still have in the district.
For the classes and students in the district who are using personal network logins that are not the standard generic school logins, restarting the computer absolutely guarantees that they have signed off from the network. If they were to leave the computer while it was still logged on to the network the next person to sit down at that machine would have full access to all of their files stored on the network. Restarting 100% guarantees that the student is logged off the network.

Automatic shutdown process

On student workstations throughout the district we have installed an automatic shutdown program that shuts the computer off at the end of the day if it is not being used. If it is being used, the program will delay until the student workstation is no longer being used. This automated shutdown works well, except there are some Windows 98 computers that are a little stubborn and do not always want to shut down. Shutdown problems with Windows 98 is a known issue with Microsoft and there are entire websites devoted to the problem. One of the best resources about Windows 98 shutdown problem is a website maintained by James A. Eshelman at http://aumha.org/win4/a/shutdown.htm.

But if students restart the computers after they use them and the computer is sitting on the Novell login screen, the automated shutdown process works well even on some of the more stubborn Windows 98 computers.

But from time to time a computer does hang, so on many of the student workstations there is a reset button on the front (the smaller button next to the main power button) which will force a restart. If there is not a reset button on the student workstation, the Power button is set so that if you hold it down for three or four seconds it will force a shutdown. At that point the Power button can be pushed again to restart the computer.

Avoid using any other power switches to power off. On some computers there is a power button on the back panel, DO NOT use that power button. DO NOT use the power button on any power strip or extension cord. Those buttons can damage the power supply on the computer if they are used.

Storage Folders

On many of the student workstations we have included a "Storage" folder. We created these "Storage" folders to provide a temporary or emergency storage area for very short-term storage of some documents. We encourage everyone to either use floppy disks to store student files or to use class or individual network logins to store documents on the school's server. We do not suggest storing files in the "Storage" folders on the computer. There are several reasons for this, the major one being everyone who uses that computer has access to that folder and can delete, alter or steal any materials in the folder. The other issue is if that computer needs serviced or experiences some kind of software/hardware problem, we may have to completely reinstall software on that computer which would result in the loss of all the files and documents stored in the "Storage" folder on that computer.

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Shelbyville Central School Corporation Mission Statement

Our mission is to provide a quality education and educational leadership to the community.

Fundamental Objectives

In order for us to accomplish our Mission...

we must have a corporate-wide, on-going strategic planning process.

we must establish a partnership involving students, staff, families and communities.

we must have a positive learning environment.

we must promote/support high student achievement in all areas.

we must have quality employees.

we must have an effective communication system for all stakeholders.

We have made every reasonable attempt to insure that our web pages are educationally sound and do not contain links to any questionable material or anything that can be deemed in violation of the Shelbyville's Acceptable Use Guideline.