When the Lawrence district purchased iPads for its middle school students, the focus was on the educational benefits. But as schools prepare to issue thousands of iPads, district leaders also want to make sure they don’t introduce problems.

“Since we’re rolling that out to a large group of middle school students, it was thought that it would be good to have a document that would share with them some of the responsibilities they have for internet safety and security, things that they need to pay attention to when they’re researching,” said David Cunningham, the district’s executive director of human resources and legal services.

At the school board’s meeting Monday, Cunningham presented a draft of responsible use guidelines for the iPad rollout to the board. The board’s policy advisory committee, made up of Cunningham and board members Vanessa Sanburn and Shannon Kimball, drafted the guidelines in preparation for the rollout.

Of primary concern was making sure non-educational apps aren’t downloaded onto the iPads, and Cunningham said all apps will be controlled by the district through a mobile device management system.

“Middle school students will not be able to just go out and download any app they want to,” Cunningham said. “It’s going to be a very controlled environment.”

In March, the school board approved a lease-purchase agreement with Apple to acquire 5,000 iPads for the district. About half of those iPads will be issued to middle school students once school starts, making it the first grade level to adopt a 1-to-1 device ratio.

The district also plans to control how apps and other functions of the devices are used. The responsible use guidelines cover a dozen topics, such as online safety, cyber-bullying and sexting (the exchanging of sexually explicit photos or messages). In addition to general guidelines, students are provided with specific rules. For example, students must obtain permission before posting videos or photos of students and instructed not to “over-share” or post inappropriate information online.

The guidelines also make clear that the district has the authority to enforce the rules laid out. Though the devices are individually issued to students, none of the content or activity will be private. As part of the guidelines, students and parents must sign an acknowledgement form, the draft of which states:

“I understand my technology use and, if applicable, text messaging and social media with district provided resources, are not private and may be viewed by district officials.”

The new rules will also follow students off campus. The district’s Wi-Fi network filter currently blocks inappropriate content such as explicit material, gambling or illicit substances. Since middle school students will be able to take the iPads home during the school year, content filters that block inappropriate material will be expanded to cover the iPads regardless of their location.

On Monday the board also approved a new filtering system that provides offsite filtering, as well as some additional services. The filtering services include screen analytics for social media, a parent portal feature, and bullying and self-harm sentiment detection. The board approved funding of a three-year service contract with the filtering company Securly, in the total amount of $71,500.

Board members will review the guidelines proposed by the committee, and an ultimate vote as to whether they will be amended or adopted will be made at the board’s next meeting. The district will distribute the responsible use guidelines when the iPads are issued.

In other business, the board:

• Elected Marcel Harmon and Shannon Kimball to serve as board president and vice president for the 2016-2017 school year. Harmon was vice president of the board last school year, and it is traditional procedure that he be named the next president.

•Approved changes to the district’s master teacher contract, including a 1.5 percent salary increase for all teachers. The Lawrence Education Association voted on Friday to approve the changes.

• Reviewed a report on the district’s budget planning for the upcoming school year. Recent changes to the school finance formula made by the state Legislature did not increase the district’s overall funding. The district will announce its budget proposal on July 25. The budget hearing and approval will be Aug. 8.

• Voted to accept a grant from the Lawrence-Douglas County Health Department to purchase additional bicycles for the district’s Bicycle Lesson and Safety Training (BLAST) program. Schwegler, Langston Hughes, Broken Arrow and Quail Run elementary schools piloted the BLAST curriculum with fourth- and fifth-graders last spring.

The next school board will be at 7 p.m. July 25 at the district offices, 110 McDonald Drive.