SchoolCentral Safety and Moderation

August 1, 2008

Our Safety and Moderation Guidelines are subject to the Terms of Use. Please refer to them for a discussion of Prohibited Content.

SchoolCentral’s Safety and Moderation Goal: Building and Maintaining a Safe and Respectful Environment to Further Constructive Discussion and Positive, Progressive Educational and Community Values

Two fundamental factors we considered when creating SchoolCentral were the building of a safe and secure online communications platform and the development of a respectful, comfortable and meaningful environment for all of our Users. SchoolCentral’s value is in its Members and the environment they create to interact and connect in; therefore, these factors are essential.

To achieve this, SchoolCentral has enabled a three-tiered moderation system that is both effective and fast acting in eliminating unwanted and questionable content, as well as off-topic discussion. Together with the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy, our Safety and Moderation Guidelines show SchoolCentral’s commitment to safety and security while discussing our strategy for moderating content and the guidelines we use in doing so.

Stay Safe Out There

Zebra Mobile takes the safety of its SchoolCentral users very seriously. SchoolCentral was created with its Members in mind and we work hard to make it an informative, fun, comfortable and safe place for school stakeholders. If you ever find yourself in an uncomfortable situation on SchoolCentral, notify a parent or other trusted relative, Flag the content or Report It or email us at safety@yourschoolcentral.com. If you feel that you are in immediate danger or find yourself in an emergency situation, dial 9-1-1.

Think Before You Post

Take a second to think before you post content to SchoolCentral. Please remember you can be held accountable for the content you post on SchoolCentral.

Personal Information

The most important thing to remember about the safety and security of your personal information is that you have control over the content you post online. When using SchoolCentral, never give out information you are uncomfortable with giving to a stranger. Use your best judgment and show discretion when considering what type of information is personal information.

For example:
• Home or street address and other specifics about where you live or hangout
• Phone numbers
• Social Security Number
• Mothers madden name
• Email addresses
• Passwords or personal identification numbers (PINs)
• Credit card, bank or other financial information
• Personal information about your friends or family

We do however encourage you to include your basic information on SchoolCentral so your friends, classmates, teachers and family can find and connect to you. And remember you can control what of your basic information people view, through the use of the Member and Group Privacy Settings.

When in doubt about what’s safe to post and what’s not, just email us at help@yourschoolcentral.com.

Online friends

SchoolCentral is a wonderful place to connect to friends and classmates. It also is a great place to connect to other school communities in your region. While it can be informative and even fun to ‘become friends’ with people from other schools on SchoolCentral, please use caution when communicating with people you’ve never met in real-life.

Use good judgment when setting your Privacy Settings and when accepting or requesting to become another users friends. A safe general rule is to not become friends with people who you don’t know or have never met.

In no way should you ever meet with strangers. If a stranger ever contacts you, or wants to meet, please tell a parent or somebody at your school. You can also email us if you ever feel uncomfortable on SchoolCentral at safety@yourschoolcentral.com.

Additional Safety Resources

These resources for online safety are provided for your convenience:
• Social Networking For Parents
• Social Networking for Students
• National Center for Missing and Exploited & Exploited Children CyberTipline
• Identifity Theft

SchoolCentral’s Moderation System: Three Types of Moderation

1) User-based Flag System

Through clicking the Flag Icon next to nearly all content, the User-based Flag System enables SchoolCentral Members to determine what content is appropriate or inappropriate for the Service. Members can simply click the Flag Icon located near news entries, photos, comments, files and Chalkboard posts.

Flag System moderation should be used when the Member finds that the Terms of Use has been violated. After the Member recognizes the violation, they can react by clicking on the Flag Icon to record the violation. After a total of three Flags (from three different users) the content is automatically removed from the site.

Users who have items frequently Flagged are subject to account termination or suspension from SchoolCentral, pending a review from Zebra Mobile.

Other areas of the site are moderated by a “Flag” link. This allows Members to report any group, profile or private message that has violated the Terms of Use. Zebra Mobile will review every item that has been reported and respond accordingly.

The Flag System is anonymous to other Members, so only Zebra Mobile will know what Member Flagged or Reported another Member’s content, message, profile or group. The use of these user-based moderation tools will increase the overall quality of moderation, and in turn, the quality of the user experience of SchoolCentral.

2) Group-appointed Moderators

Moderators are SchoolCentral Members selected by group owners to monitor content and guide discussion on the group level. Since much of SchoolCentral’s activity and interaction is done on the group level, it makes sense to give moderators the ability to delete, edit and move content in accordance with the Terms of Use and keep the group content relevant, thus furthering discussion. These appointed moderators play an important role in topical and discussion guidance.

Group moderators may reorganize and replace content, such as news postings and comments, discussion board topics, photos or even files and calendar events to help interaction stay on point.

3) In-house Moderation

In-house moderation a proactive approach whereby either Zebra Mobile employees or Members compensated by Zebra Mobile review content and activities for that which is prohibited by our Terms of Use. In addition, Zebra Mobile utilizes filters and other technology on the SchoolCentral Service for the purpose of moderation. The filters will be used to prevent blacklisted words from appearing on SchoolCentral, which include profanity and obscene, vulgar or offensive terms including sexual, violent, threatening or abusive terms. These filters also are built to stop unwanted spam, solicitations or viruses.

Zebra Mobile has the right to terminate, suspend or restrict Member accounts, particularly if a violation of the Terms of Use has occurred. Any Member that has had multiple items removed from SchoolCentral, due to the Flag System, will be reviewed by Zebra Mobile for possible termination or suspension.

Changes to Moderation Guidelines

Zebra Mobile may update these guidelines. We will announce significant changes by posting prominently on the website; however, you assume the responsibility of periodically reviewing them.

Questions or Concerns Pertaining to Moderation

If you have questions or concerns with our moderation guidelines, you can email us at help@schoolcentral.com.