The internet is a valuable learning tool, proving students with unlimited information. E-mail allows them to communicate easily with people, including experts in different areas, quickly and efficiently. One of Lunenburg County Public Schools’ priorities is to keep students safe as they utilize these wonderful, electronic resources.

Lunenburg County Public Schools sends home an Electronic Acceptable Use Policy addressing internet safety in the paperwork homeroom teachers issue at the beginning of the year. This policy must come back signed in order for students to use the internet at school.

The school system also has measures in place to block or filter internet access to inappropriate sites.

To further protect students, Lunenburg County Public Schools and other schools in the Southside Virginia Regional Technology Consortium have joined together to create a standard Internet Safety Curriculum, which is taught in grades K-12. The curriculum covers the following topics:

1. Personal safety — not revealing personal information

2. Netiquette — being polite and respectful while online

3. Security — learning about viruses, worms, hacking, and Trojan horses

4. Intellectual property — respecting copyrights and avoiding plagiarism

The curriculum also teaches how to avoid pornography, deal with cyber bullying/stalking and identify online predators.

For more information on Internet safety in the school system, please contact Frances Wilson, director of technology and testing at (434) 676-2467.