Acceptable Use of Office E-mail System

FROM: Thomas G. Valos, Assistant Superintendent, Support Services

SUBJECT: Acceptable Use of Office E-mail System

In response to the recent concerns regarding the proper use of our Groupwise e-mail system, please refer to the "Positive Communications & Stylebook," page 18, which states in part:

"The E-mail system exists to conduct our daily business in a cost-efficient and professional manner.  Because we work in a public agency and our E-mail is paid for by tax dollars, it is not for personal use.  E-mail is also not to be used for the sale of personal items, fund-raisers or profit ventures.  Bulletin boards in employee lunch/break areas have been installed for the employees’ personal messages or fund-raising activities.

Office sanctioned, education related and selected nonprofit announcements may be posted on e-mail if they have been approved by your division administrator.  If your division administrator is unavailable, requests should be directed to the assistant superintendent of Support Services.  If the assistant superintendent of Support Services is unavailable, requests should be directed to the administrator of the Division of Communications/KETN."

Use of Groupwise for personal Internet e-mail should follow the same guidelines.

In addition, your Groupwise Internet e-mail address should not be used for personal subscriptions to "list-serves" or Internet mailing lists.  These might include messages from software companies announcing new games or applications.  If you currently belong to one or more of these lists, please discontinue your subscription.  Generally, instructions for discontinuing a subscription are included in the messages.  If not, a reply to the sender requesting removal may be adequate.

If you would like to receive personal e-mail through the Internet, you may request a separate Internet account that can be accessed through Netscape or any other Internet e-mail package.  The form can be found at and printed from the following Internet address:

http://www.kern.org/isp/acct-req-form.html

These Internet accounts are available at no charge to KCSOS employees.

Please contact the Personnel office for copies of the "Positive Communications & Stylebook." System Maintenance

The Groupwise e-mail systems are taken down and backed up every Friday evening at 5:00.  Backup takes approximately three hours to complete.  Internet mail continues to be received and is stored on the Internet gateway until the backup is finished and the First Class server is restarted.

The Groupwise e-mail system has been configured to automatically delete messages that are 120 days old based on the date they were sent.  This does not mean it is acceptable to let the system maintain your mailbox for you.  The Groupwise system is designed to be used for the transportation of messages, not permanent storage.  Messages can be printed or saved to a local hard drive, floppy diskette, or to a network drive.  If you need assistance with any of these tasks, please call User Support at extension 4549.