Website Policy
Introduction
The Northwest School website serves as a resource for individuals both inside and outside of the NWS community. The site functions as a central means of communication among faculty, parents, students, board and alumni. Prospective families and employees are also included in its target audience. Users are able to access up-to-date news, calendars, and schedules. The School's philosophy, history, curriculum, admissions materials, and campus maps are also available on the website, as are employment listings.
This policy seeks to address these uses and to be flexible enough to meet future needs as they occur. Although Teacher Page Guidelines are addressed in a separate document this policy also applies to each teacher's class page along with all NWS Umbrella Sites.
Because The Northwest School website is an official School publication, since the 2002-2003 school year, a Website Administrator has been appointed to serve as the monitor of the site. The Administrator is charged with regularly reviewing the School's web pages to ensure that the information presented is accurate, consistent, and up-to-date, and that design elements are uniform. In addition, the Website Administrator serves as the contact for any "visitors" who have questions about the site.
The Website Administrator also maintains direct contact with each division and office of the School to ensure the needs of their constituencies are being recognized and addressed. The Administrator assists with the creation, publication, maintenance, and updating of an office or division's web pages. Members of the NWS Community should direct comments, concerns, questions, suggestions, and requests concerning the site to the Website Coordinator.
Maintenance of Website Content
In order that the site serves as a reliable resource for prospective students and employees, as well as for parents, current students, alumni, faculty, board, and members of the academic community, it must contain timely information. Each office and division must review and maintain its section of the website and work to ensure that it is current and relevant.
Persons wishing to post announcements on the home page or other portions of the website should submit their request through email, phone or letter to the Marketing Manager or the Website Administrator. Postings are at the discretion of the Administrator.
Photographs on the main site are changed on a regular basis by the Website Administrator and the appropriate offices and divisions of the School. All photographs including students (those under 18 years of age) are reviewed and parental consent is obtained prior to posting. No photographs of students will be posted unless written parental consent is on record.
Teacher Pages are created for faculty in all divisions. They may use their pages to post homework assignments, syllabi, class resources, photos, and other information for their classes. If faculty members have existing web pages hosted elsewhere, they may link to those pages from their class pages. Teacher Pages must remain current, avoid dead links and follow both The Northwest School Privacy Policy and Teacher Page Guidelines. Teachers shall not post photographs of students (under 18) unless written parental consent is on record.
The Alumni Association pages in the Alumni Online Community are managed by the Development Associate and the Development Office. All submissions must be sent directly to the Development Associate who works with the Development Office and Website Administrator to maintain the site.
Required Style Specifications
The general appearance of pages on the website is controlled by Cascading Style Sheets. Any new pages on the site must be duplicated from existing pages to ensure that the navigation, header, and style elements are consistent.
All pages on the main NWS website must comply with the following requirements:
- All content must be reviewed by at least "two sets of eyes" before going live.
- To enable a faster downloading time, scanned photographs should be limited to 72 dpi.
- Links to pages that are defunct or "under construction" should not be created or should be removed.
- Files for download must be under 20 MB in size and 10 minutes in viewing length (where applicable).
It is important to remember that, as in the case of anything else on the website, audio and video clips represent the school. Therefore, audio or video must be of the highest possible quality. Video which is inappropriate in content, blurry, unsteady, or difficult to view will not be posted. Audio that is difficult to hear or inappropriate in content will not be posted. In order to be useful and convenient to the user, all files posted must be under 20 megabytes in size and 10 minutes in length. Content must be of a nature as to speak to unique aspects of the school or community life.
Final discretion as to whether a media file is placed on the Northwest School website rests with the Website Administrator in tangent with the Assistant Head of School and the Marketing Manager.
Other than the above outlined style specifications, Teacher Pages are not subject to specific style requirements.
Privacy Regulations
Personal contact information for students, parents, and faculty, including home and e-mail addresses, telephone numbers, and other information that could be used by unauthorized individuals, will not be published on any NWS related website.* Student and parent contact information is available only to parents, students, and employees through The Northwest School Directory. Personal contact information for faculty is only accessible to employees.
* It is up to the discretion of the NWS Faculty member running class related trips whether or not they want to include personal "Emergency Contact Info" on their Permission Slips. To allow for this inclusion, all NWS Permission Slips will be housed in a password protected location. All current NWS website passwords will allow access to these forms.
In order for student names, photographs and projects to be included on the public area of the NWS website, there must be a release signed by the student's parent or legal guardian on file in the Business Office.
To prevent the association of names and faces, names of students should not be placed on the same web pages as their photographs. The use of students' last names is forbidden.
Video or audio files posted on any NWS related website must adhere to Website Policy. Proper written permission from those who have been audio- and / or video-recorded must be obtained by the person or persons doing the recording. In the case of students, that permission is the "Permission to Publish Student Work and Likeness" form.
In the case of the Parent Forum, the Parent Association will obtain written permission and those forms will be on file at The Northwest School. For all other NWS Events, speakers being audio- and / or video-recorded must sign waivers. All applicable copyright laws will be followed.
Advertising
Unless approved by the Web Development Committee, the advertising or direct sale of non-School related goods and services is prohibited on all sections of The Northwest School website and its umbrella sites.
It is the policy of The Northwest School to not link to websites that are of a commercial or political nature. Exceptions to this policy do happen. Links to sites that are deemed to have educational value or which, in some way, further the mission of the school are permitted. Links to non-school related social networks or faculty personal websites are not permitted. All links are reviewed by the Website Administrator in tangent with the Assistant Head of School and the Marketing Manager.
Websites that are of educational value, but pertain to only a select part of the community, or can be classified as "personal interest" or "outside activity / hobby" sites can be listed on a faculty member's Teacher Page, but not on the main NWS website.
The Northwest School utilizes the following Acceptable Link Criteria:
- Link must be educational in nature
- Advertising on the page must be "family friendly"
- Person posting the link must review "3 clicks deep" to make sure site contains appropriate content
Partnerships - Posting of Company Names, Logos, and URL's
Only NWS related logos (Pizazz!, ArtsFest, etc...) are allowed on The Northwest School Home Page.
The following list of "subscription" services have been approved by the Web Development Committee and therefore it is acceptable to link to these services from our website.
- Trumba - Online Calendars
- College Counseling - Naviance Family Connection
- Database Subscriptions - Library Online Resources
- NWS Merchandise - Café Press
- Alumni Community, Online Giving, Event Registration, and Online Publications - Harris Connect
- Senior Systems, My BackPack - Online Admissions
- Student Wikis and Blogs - Wikispaces, Word Press, etc...
Where deemed appropriate, the NWS website includes links to resources housed on external websites. These resources include the Student Health Resources, Library Resources, and both MapQuest and Google Maps. Periodically, we take care to ensure these external resources meet the above Acceptable Link Criteria.
In general, no external logos should be posted on any NWS related website. Exceptions to this are the previously defined "subscription" sites and the Library Online Resources.
When The Northwest School has a relationship with an external resource (music teachers, community service opportunities), sponsor (Elliot Bay Book Company, calendar advertisers), or company (Kaladi Brothers, Bauhaus) we may mention the relationship's name on our website, but we will not provide direct hyperlinks to their business.
Copyright
Posting or providing access to material that violates the copyrights of others is prohibited. No copyrighted materials, including educational materials subject to copyright, may be posted anywhere on The Northwest School website, or on personal web pages hosted by NWS, without the written authorization of the copyright owner. Knowingly providing links to websites that contain pirated materials is also prohibited. Anyone who repeatedly violates this rule may lose the right to have his or her materials hosted by NWS or posted on the School's site or other discipline, up to and including termination of employment or enrollment, as appropriate.
Anyone wishing to assert his or her copyright to original materials that he or she has placed on The Northwest School website may include the following on the first page of the materials: "Copyright © 2009 [name]."
Acceptable Use
The Northwest School has adopted and enforces the standards set forth in this Website Policy for materials posted on its website and on any NWS related website. The School reserves the right to remove or disable access to material that violates its acceptable use policies. However, the School does not assume any responsibility or liability for content provided by others, including content provided by faculty, staff, and students on their own personal web pages, nor does NWS assume any liability or responsibility for failure to enforce its acceptable use standards as set forth herein.
Contact
Please direct questions about this Website Policy, to The Northwest School's Website Coordinator.
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