Obion County Board of Education
March 2, 2009

Background Information:

Public Chapter 989, Internet Safety, was passed into law in the spring of 2008.  This law, TCA § 49-1-221, gives directives to Directors of public schools for specific steps that they should take in establishing an acceptable use policy for students and employees, reporting that policy to the Department of Education, and implementing an Internet Safety Curriculum into their K-12 schools.

Upon reporting Board policy (Use of the Internet – #4.406) to the Department of Education, we were cited for not being in compliance with the section of the law addressing “professional development opportunities for teachers and staff across the district.” Although our technology plan addresses professional development opportunities, this was not good enough for the Department to approve our current Board policy. Therefore, the Department recommended the addition of the following sentence to Board policy: “Employees will receive professional development pertaining to internet safety and security on an annual basis.” This sentence should be added at the end of the section titled “Internet Safety Instruction,” on page 3.

Staff Recommendation:

I recommend approval of the amendment to Board Policy #4.406 – Use of the Internet, on first reading. In addition, since our District is already providing professional development pertaining to internet safety and security on an annual basis, I recommend waiving the second reading.