WHEREAS, the Children's Internet Protection Act provides that in order for a local educational agency (LEA) to receive funds under Title III of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 or E-rate discounts for the purchase of computers or to pay costs associated with accessing the internet, that the LEA have in place a policy of internet safety which addresses (1) access to inappropriate materials on the internet, (2) safety when using e-mail and other forms of direct electronic communications, (3) unauthorized access (i.e., "hacking") and other unlawful activities online, (4) unauthorized disclosure of personal information regarding minors, and (5) access to materials which are harmful to minors, and

WHEREAS, the Children's Internet Protection Act requires that the LEA make a determination about what materials will be considered harmful to minors, and

WHEREAS, the Children's Internet Protection Act contains a definition of the term "harmful to minors" which the Board of Cooperative Educational Services proposes to adopt and incorporate into its policy, and

WHEREAS, the Board of Cooperative Educational Services has conducted a public hearing on the proposed Internet Safety Policy and determined to incorporate the statutory definition of the term "harmful to minors" into the policy, therefore it is

RESOLVED, that the Board of Cooperative Educational Services hereby determines that the term harmful to minors shall mean "any picture, image, graphic image file or other visual depiction that taken as a whole and with respect to minors, appeals to a prurient interest in nudity, sex, or excretion; depicts, describes or represents, in a patently offensive way with respect to what is suitable for minors, an actual or simulated sexual act or sexual contact, actual or simulated normal or perverted sexual acts, or a lewd exhibition of the genitals; and taken as a whole lacks serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value as to minors," and it is further

RESOLVED, that the above definition of the term harmful to minors be incorporated into the Internet Safety Policy to be ratified by the Board of Cooperative Educational Services.
 
 
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