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Anthony Orsini sent an e-mail blast to the Benjamin Franklin Middle School community in Ridgewood, New Jersey, on Wednesday, urging parents to take down their children's online profiles on Facebook and elsewhere. "There is absolutely no reason for any middle school student to be a part of a social networking site!," he wrote. "Let me repeat that - there is absolutely, positively no reason for any middle school student to be a part of a social networking site!" The main problem, he wrote, is that tweens do not have the resilience to withstand internet name-calling. "They are simply not psychologically ready for the damage that one mean person online can cause," he said.

Currently, student non-compliance may result in confiscation of the device and other disciplinary action. But, says Superintendent Dave Jeck, that policy is about to change to keep pace with growing student non-compliance. "Cell phone usage issues were at one time exclusively a high school-middle school problem," says Jeck. "Now there are issues on all levels. We need ... a division-wide policy that makes it very clear that usage during the school day is not acceptable and violations will be dealt with sternly."Jeck is working on an addendum to the current policy -- even though legislators say the school district doesn't have to allow electronic devices on school property at all.

A 14-year old boy was accused of making threats on MySpace, where his page showed a tombstone, satanic references and admiration for the shooters in the 1999 massacre at Columbine High School in Colorado, authorities said. Through instant messages on MySpace to another student, he also threatened to lock the cafeteria doors during one of the lunch periods and shoot everyone inside, authorities said. In lieu of imprisonment, the student has been transferred to an alternative facility and is prohibited from logging onto MySpace or Facebook or making contact with students from his former school. The boy's attorney said the boy used his MySpace page to react against intense bullying at the middle school, which left him in fear. The boy has said that one of the bullies threatened to slit his throat.

Kids can be mean.\n\nIt's a fact of life we've all experienced. Gone are the days, however, when avoiding a bully meant ducking out of the back door at school. Thanks to personal computers, cellphones and instant messaging, it's now easier than ever for children to attack each other, often anonymously.

News coverage about a middle school student victimized by online and offline bullying has prompted a grassroots solidarity campaign. She's received over 1,400 letters of support so far, and it's serving as a teachable moment that no school should ignore. Olivia Gardner was just a sixth grader when the bullying began two years ago. Previously diagnosed with epilepsy, Olivia was tormented by her peers because of the disease. In school, they'd call her "retard." Online, they created an "Olivia Haters" page on MySpace and would use it to make fun of her. The school district eventually got involved, bringing in the families of the kids who were involved in the bullying, as well as holding a series of student assemblies on the problem. But it was too little, too late for Olivia, who soon transferred to another school.

My ninth grade students made this wiki to plan the course for the middle school digital citizenship course.

The course planning wiki for the digiteen action project from my ninth graders for the middle school. They've done a nice job of planning and sharing the materials. I like their google presentation which has evolved significantly over the last three weeks.

Bullying middle school program. The pupils at Franklin Middle School tapped into real-life experiences as they filmed "The Stories of Us," a 25-minute movie being sold to American schools as part of a new anti-bullying program. They wrote, produced and acted in the film, which many educators say looks more like a documentary than make-believe. Previews of the two films can be accessed at : http://www.storiesofus.com/previews.html

"n 2006, I had the opportunity to conduct focus group interviews with students on the topic of cyberbullying. I partnered with Dr. Robin Kowalski and Dr. Susan Limber, psychologists at Clemson University who had already conducted a national survey on cyberbullying with students in grades 6 through 8. To build on that knowledge, we interviewed 148 middle and high school students in public schools. We selected schools in part for their diverse socioeconomic status.tudents in public schools.

Ty Nordic understands the need to inform kids about the dangers of sexual predators on the Internet. But when his 16-year-old daughter was targeted during an assembly at Windsor High School on the first day of school Tuesday afternoon, Nordic was left with plenty of unanswered questions for the presenter whom he said used inappropriate language during the assembly and singled out specific students.

This is an amazing outline of what happens at leading edge middle schools.

Kevin Jarrett talks about his week at one of the leaders in innovative technology, suffern Middle School. An excellent read to see what this digital revolution is all about. Wow!

MISSING, from Web Wise Kids, is designed to SHOW rather than TELL children about online safety. It's a fun and positive way to teach children how to avoid danger on the Internet. The interactive software adventure tells the story of Zack, a kid in Vancouver, Canada who forms an online friendship with Fantasma. This guy is so cool - he has an online magazine about beach life in California and he sends Zack great stuff, like graphic arts and software. Little does Zack know that he is a predator. After Zach agrees to go to San Diego to be with Fantasma, players work with a detective to find and rescue Zack and arrest Fantasma. Available both as a home edition and a school edition. [Windows and Mac OSX versions available]. Note: Local middle school science teachers have successfully worked this program into their science curriculum since solving the game involves researching and collecting clues.

Another YouTube brawl earns suspension for two girls. Two Southwind Middle School girls were suspended Monday after their locker room fight was posted on the Internet. This follows similar beatings in Indiana and Florida where the acts were committed in order to videotape the event. School principal Marcia Crouch sent a note home to parents Monday afternoon alerting them about the fight and warning them of the school district's zero-tolerance policy regarding such misbehavior.

The digital citizens of Doolen Middle School have come up with their 5 most important rules for the digital world they live in. They are making posters for every classroom in the school plus the library and the 2 computer labs. The target audience will be every student in the middle school, 6th, 7th and 8th grades.

FOSI Middle East Conference Speaker, Fadi Salem - Director of Governance & Innovation Program, Dubai School of Government.

Today's college students have never received digital citizenship in middle school or high school. Kids need to receive instruction at a much earlier age.

Student -created videos telling powerful stories!! D.U.S.T.Y. is an afterschool program for middle and high school students in Oakland, CA. DUSTY students work on computers to create their own Digital Stories, as well at to generate rap and hip hop "beats and rhymes." Throughout the creative process, students learn to master programs such as Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Premiere, iMovie, and Fruity Loops with the help of skilled instructors. At the end of each semester, the students' creative masterpieces, including digital stories, raps, beats, and performances are showcased in some sort of final event at The Parkway Theatre, The Metro, and other local venues.

In this information technology age, children and youth in West and East Oakland face the additional disadvantage of a digital divide, which separates ethnicities, socio-economic classes, genders, and ages. Youth from low-income communities rarely have access to cutting edge communication technologies or, just as importantly, to empowering uses of them. A comparison between the number of computers per Oakland school with the schools' statewide academic performance ranking, or API, revealed that some schools with high numbers of computers have very low API's. This discrepancy suggests that simply having technology is not enough; rather, to improve student academic outcomes, technology must be meaningfully used.

Fabulous School Assembly Program! Although the team is based in the San Francisco Bay Area, they travel and give presentations nationwide. They bring a sense of balance to all of the predator-based talks given by law enforcement. The creators of this project are graduates of Stanford's Learning, Design & Technology program and also have a background in film making. They have won numerous awards at local, national and international film festivals for their work and were a huge hit at the California League of Middle Schools Conference, last Fall.

You can see a video clip of Adina's Deck at: adinasdecktrailer

This site directs you to cybersafety week activities planned for Deepark Independent School District. Includes downloadable materials for GR K-2, 3-5 and middle school.

7th grade bullying incident caught on camera and posted on YouTube. Parents are filing a lawsuit against the Palm Beach County School District claiming the school has done nothing to stop such incidents or to create a safe environment for students.

Comprehensive lesson plans and activities for middle school cyberbullying prevention curriculum developed for Seattle Public Schools.