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Anne Bubnic

Curbing Cyberbullying in School and on the Web - 0 views

markfranek.wordpress.com/...the-virtual-schoolyard

ad4dcss aup cyberbullying legal school administrator

shared by Anne Bubnic on 05 Sep 08 - Cached
  • Many of the most egregious acts of cyberbullying do not take place during school hours or on school networks, a situation that presents a dilemma for public school administrators: If they punish a student for off-campus behavior, they could get hit with a freedom of speech suit.  If they do nothing, students may continue to suffer and school officials theoretically could get hit with failure to act litigation. For school administrators, it appears to be an unfortunate “catch-22.” For lawyers, it’s a “perfect storm,” pitting freedom of speech advocates against the victims of cyberbullying and schools that try to intervene. There are no easy answers in this arena, few laws, and no well-established precedents that specifically deal with cyberbullying.
  • “School administrators can intervene in cyberbullying incidents, even if the incidents do not take place on school grounds, if they can demonstrate that the electronic speech resulted in a substantial disruption to the educational environment.”
  • These cases illustrate not only a lack of precedent on cyberbullying cases, but also a dilemma for school administrators on how to handle cyberbullying.  “There are few laws that address how to handle cyberbullying, and many schools don’t have an internal policy to deal with cyberbullying that takes place off-campus,” offers Deutchman.  “It may take an unfortunate and tragic event on school property to get more schools to consider tackling electronic behavior that originates off campus.  It’s only a matter of time before a cyberbully, or the victim of cyberbullying, uses deadly force during school hours.”
  • ...5 more annotations...
  • So, what should schools do in the meantime?  First, school officials should establish a consistent internal policy (much like a crisis plan) and a team (minimally made up of the principal, school counselor, and technology director) to deal with cyber-misconduct. This team should fully document disruptive incidents and the degree to which the learning environment is affected. The principal should invite the cyberbully’s parents to review the offending material before considering disciplinary action. Most parents at this point will do the right thing.
  • Second, schools should educate children, starting in elementary school, about the importance of cyber-safety and the consequences of cyberbullying, especially on the school’s own network. These rules should be clearly posted in the computer labs and written in age-appropriate language. The rules should be sent home to parents each year—and they should be posted prominently on the school’s website.
  • Third, teachers should continue incorporating in their curriculum projects that utilize the web and other powerful new technologies. This probably won’t help schools avoid lawsuits; it’s just good pedagogy. It’s not surprising that schools that keep up with the latest technology and software—and employ teachers who care about the quality of online communication—report lower incidents of cyber-misconduct.
  • In addition, schools should update their codes of conduct to include rules that can legally govern off-campus electronic communication that significantly disrupts the learning environment. They should also assign enough resources and administrative talent to deal with students who engage in cyber-misconduct. One very big caveat: Disciplining a student for off-campus electronic speech should be done only as a last resort, and certainly not before seeking legal counsel.
  • Finally, schools should realize that not all cyberbullies need to be disciplined. Schools should act reasonably, responsibly, and consistently—so as to avoid the very bullying behavior they are trying to curb. Until the courts provide clear standards in the area of off-campus electronic speech for young people, these recommendations will go a long way in making schools a safer learning environment for everyone.
  • Anne Bubnic on 05 Sep 08
     
    Most school administrators have more than one story to tell about cyberbullying. They report that victims of cyberbullying experience low self-esteem, peer isolation, anxiety, and a drop in their grades. They note that victims may miss class or other school-related activities. Principals also point to recent high-profile cases where cyberbullying, left unchecked, led to suicide. In response, some schools have created new policies and curbed free speech on the school's computer network and on all electronic devices used during school hours. This article offers practical advice for actions schools can take to curb bullying, ranging from policy development to education.
Anne Bubnic

Judge: Student's Facebook Page Is Protected by Free Speech - 3 views

www.aolnews.com/...19359849

ad4dcss legal issues free speech cyberbullying facebook

shared by Anne Bubnic on 27 Mar 10 - Cached
  • On Monday, a federal judge ruled that Evans, now a 19-year-old sophomore at the University of Florida, can sue her former principal, Peter Bayer, for suspending her, saying that her Facebook page is protected by free speech. Evans is asking that the three-day suspension in 2007 be cleared from her academic record.
  • Though Evans' case is far from over, it's clear that the First Amendment seems to have won precedence over the fight against cyberbullying. And many say the case is likely to shape the legal debates over free speech on the Web.
  • Anne Bubnic on 27 Mar 10
     
    Katherine Evans wanted everyone to know: Ms. Phelps was the worst English teacher she'd ever had. So Evans, a Florida high school senior and honors student, posted a Facebook page to publicly criticize the teacher. Two months later, though, Evans was suspended for cyberbullying the teacher with her very precisely named group, "Ms. Sarah Phelps is the worst teacher I've ever had," on the social-networking site.
Anne Bubnic

California Court Rules Cyber-Bullying Is Not Free Speech - 1 views

www.switched.com/...er-bullying-is-not-free-speech

ad4dcss digital citizenship cybersafety cyberbullying digital law legal

shared by Anne Bubnic on 19 Mar 10 - Cached
  • Anne Bubnic on 19 Mar 10
     
    Online threats of violence and acts of cyber-bullying are not protected free speech. That's according to a California appeals court that upheld a decision from a lower court, allowing a hate crimes and defamation suit to continue. The case cited involves a 15 year old student who became the target of threats and taunts from other students after launching a web site promoting pursuit of a film and singing career.
Anne Bubnic

Student Bashes Administrators, Gets Disciplined - 0 views

www.districtadministration.com/viewarticle.aspx

ad4dcss blog cyberbullying legal school administrator student discipline

shared by Anne Bubnic on 05 Sep 08 - Cached
  • According to Doninger, the principal told her that Jamfest was cancelled because of the students’ action. The principal denied saying that. That evening, Doninger posted an entry on her personal blog in which she noted that Jamfest had been cancelled, referred to the district administrators as “douchebags,” and encouraged continued contact with the superintendent to “piss her off more.” The following day the event was rescheduled. Sometime later school officials
  • The appeals court found that it was reasonably foreseeable that Doninger’s posting would reach campus and that the posting created a foreseeable risk of substantial disruption within the school environment because the language used was offensive. It likely disrupted efforts to resolve the controversy, and the posting that Jamfest had been cancelled made it foreseeable that school operations might well be disrupted further.
  • There was no evidence of any disruption at school. The only disruption was to the principal and superintendent in responding to what was an impressive response to the student’s call for complaints. There was no indication in the record that the disruption interfered in any way with the delivery of instruction or in any way impacted student welfare. If administrators are not being appropriately sensitive to the interests of students or are engaging in other actions that cause concern, students clearly should have the free speech right to protest and to call for other students and community members to register their complaints. Inconveniencing school administrators under such circumstances should not be considered to constitute substantial disruption.
  • Anne Bubnic on 05 Sep 08
     
    A court case upholds administrators' rights to discipline a student who used derogatory language on a blog, but questions arise. In Doninger v. Niehoff, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit ruled in May that a Connecticut school district that disciplined a student for vulgar and derogatory remarks made off-campus did not violate her free speech rights.
Anne Bubnic

The Newest Breed of Bully, the Cyberbully - 0 views

www.pta.org/cle_details_1117639656218.html

ad4dcss cyberbullying digital responsibilities pta

shared by Anne Bubnic on 06 Aug 08 - Cached
  • While some of what is published online may seem libelous (i.e., intended to harm the reputation of another), proving that point can be difficult and expensive. In order to prove libel, you have to prove malicious intent, something that might prove difficult if the offending Web page was put up by an adolescent. And many times, freedom of speech wins out.
  • Unless an actual crime has taken place, law enforcement officials often are unable to arrest anyone, even if they can identify the culprit. According to Lt. John Otero, commanding officer of the computer crime squad for the New York City Police Department, individuals would actually have to post a direct threat in order for the police to act. "For example, if they say, 'tomorrow I am going to hurt, kill, or injure an individual,' that would constitute a crime," he explains. A person posting such a threat could be arrested and charged with aggravated harassment. Although Otero says his department has seen some arrests, anyone under the age of 18 would not be dealt with harshly: "If the kid is too young, he would get a scolding and the incident would be brought to the parents' attention; if they are under 16, they are considered minors."
  • Like cliques, cyberbullying reaches its peak in middle school, when young adolescents are trying to figure out who their friends are and whether they fit in. "Third- and 4th-graders are just having fun with computers," says Loretta Radice, who taught computer skills to middle-schoolers in public and private schools for more than 15 years.
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  • While the cyber- bully believes he cannot be caught, Radice notes that everyone leaves footsteps in cyberspace. "Everything is traceable," she says. "Kids often don't realize that."
  • Anne Bubnic on 06 Aug 08
     
    Because cyberbullying is such a new phenomenon, school and law enforcement officials in the United States and other countries are still sorting out the legal technicalities. "Most of what is done online is protected as free speech," says Frannie Wellings, policy fellow at the Electronic Privacy Information Center in Washington, DC.
Lorna Costantini

Free speech vs. class disruption - 0 views

seattlepi.nwsource.com/...316618_youtube22.html

ad4dcss cyberbullying digital responsibilities teachers

shared by Lorna Costantini on 28 Apr 08 - Cached
  • Lorna Costantini on 28 Apr 08
     
    A court case from May 2007. It was a sophomoric online video criticizing the hygiene of a teacher. Is suspension a violation of the U.S. Constitution's First Amendment guarantee of freedom of speech?

    UPDATE: In a federal court session on May 23, 2007, U.S. District Judge Marsha Pechman turned down the request of Gregory Requa, 18, to grant a temporary restraining order ending the 40-day suspension. "The court has no difficulty in concluding that one student filming another student standing behind a teacher making 'rabbit ears' and pelvic thrusts in her direction, or a student filming the buttocks of a teacher as she bends over in the classroom, constitutes a material and substantial disruption to the work and discipline of the school. "The 'work and discipline of the school' includes the maintenance of a civil and respectful atmosphere toward teachers and students alike -- demeaning, derogatory, sexually suggestive behavior toward an unsuspecting teacher in a classroom poses a disruption of that mission whenever it occurs.
  • Lorna Costantini on 28 Apr 08
     
    Bullying by students - filming teacher in the classroom - targeting a teacher and posting on YouTube ensuing court case about the accountability of the Kent School Board for making a decision on punishing a student using unsigned, unsworn statements from anonymous students
Anne Bubnic

Calif. appeals court OKs cyberbullying suit - 0 views

www.sfgate.com/...article.cgi

digital citizenship ad4dcss digital law cyberbullying

shared by Anne Bubnic on 17 Mar 10 - Cached
  • Anne Bubnic on 17 Mar 10
     
    A California appeals court ruled that Internet threats posted on a 15-year-old boy's Web site are not protected free speech in what may be the state's first case to examine the boundaries between free expression and cyber-bullying. The appeals court majority ruled that the case can return to a lower court for trial because the Internet postings revealed a harmful intent that is not protected by the right of free speech.
Kate Olson

The Dark Side of Web Anonymity - 0 views

www.businessweek.com/...b4083064456431.htm

ad4dcss cyberbullying digital citizenship digital communication netiquette

shared by Kate Olson on 05 May 08 - Cached
  • Kate Olson on 05 May 08
     
    Malicious gossip posted by unidentified users is sparking a new debate about free speech online. As the legal debate rages, some students are trying another tactic to shut down anonymous gossip online: attacking the sites' business model. They're organizing boycotts of JuicyCampus and similar ventures, to cut off traffic and, by extension, ad revenue.
Anne Bubnic

ReadWriteThink: Comic Creator - 3 views

www.readwritethink.org/...comic

ad4dcss comic life digital storytelling readwritethink cyberbullying cartoon

shared by Anne Bubnic on 25 Apr 10 - Cached
  • Anne Bubnic on 25 Apr 10
     
    A free online device that can be used for digital storytelling/cyberbullying. Children and teens create comic strips online by choosing backgrounds, characters, and props. They can also write dialogue using speech bubbles. There is a Comic Strip Planning Sheet, a printable PDF that comic creators can use to draft and revise their work before creating and printing their final comics. When the comics are completed, they can be printed out and shared. The sample comic strip shows a three-pane comic.
Anne Bubnic

Terror in the Classroom: What Can be Done?, Part 4 - 0 views

www.schoolcio.com/showArticle.php

ad4dcss cyberbullying legal schoolcio

shared by Anne Bubnic on 03 Sep 08 - Cached
  • A survey conducted by MSN United Kingdom found that 74% of teens as compared to 80% in this study did not go to anyone for advice when they were cyberbullied (www.msn.co.uk/cyberbullying, 2006). One reason some teenagers are reluctant to tell parents or adults is the fear of retaliation.
  • Many times parents don't get involved because they are afraid of invading their teen's privacy. Others may feel that as long as they have filtering software their teen is protected from negative material.
  • Parents need to be educated about cyberbullying- what it looks like, what the effects are and how to handle it. Rosalind Wiseman, educator and author of the best seller "Queen Bees & Wannabes", suggest parents consider the following: Use technology as an opportunity to reinforce your family values. Attach rules and consequences if inappropriate behavior occurs. Move the computer out of your child's bedroom and into the family room. Teach your child not to share passwords. Install monitoring and filtering software. Monitor your child's screen name(s) and Web sites for inappropriate content. If cyberbullying occurs, save and print out any evidence and decide whom you should contact for assistance.
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  • n Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District, 393 U.S. 503 (1969). The court ruled that a student's right to free speech can be limited when the speech "materially disrupts class work or involves substantial disorder or invasion of the rights of others." The standard of "material disruption" set by Tinker is often referred to by the courts
  • Anne Bubnic on 03 Sep 08
     
    What Can Parents Do? Schools should start addressing students, parents and staff about the issues of cyberbullying. Students need to be reminded that what they do in cyberspace is not really anonymous. They need to know their behaviors and words are downloadable, printable and sometimes punishable by law. The courts have given some direction for schools dealing with cyberbullying. "School districts are well within their legal rights to intervene in cyberbullying incidents - even if these incidents were initiated off-campus - if it can be demonstrated that the incident resulted in a substantial disruption of the educational environment"
Anne Bubnic

Facebook gripes protected by free speech, ruling says - 0 views

www.cnn.com/...index.html

ad4dcss legal issues

shared by Anne Bubnic on 06 Mar 10 - Cached
  • Anne Bubnic on 06 Mar 10
     
    A former Florida high school student who was suspended by her principal after she set up a Facebook page to criticize her teacher is protected constitutionally under the First Amendment, a federal magistrate ruled.
Anne Bubnic

Cyber Bullying - School Policies? - 0 views

www.asbj.com/...Cyber-Bullying.aspx

AUP ad4dcss cyberbullying school board

shared by Anne Bubnic on 09 Apr 09 - Cached
  • A punch in the eye seems so passé. Bullies these days are traveling in packs and using cyberspace to their humiliating messages online. Like the toughies of old, they are both boys and girls and they demand nothing less than total submission as the price of peace. It’s a jungle out there. For school districts, patrolling the hallways and adjacent grounds is just a start. In the 21st century, a new kind of vigilance is necessary—an expanded jurisdiction that serves to both stave off legal actions and ensure a safe and productive learning environment.
  • Today’s principals rely on district policy and practice to extend the presumed long arm of the law to off-campus incidents. Potentially, that could mean plunging headlong into the electronic frontier to rescue student victims and thwart cyberbullying classmates who thrive as faceless computer culprits.
  • A December 2009 study by Harvard University’s Berkman Center for Internet & Society found that students on the receiving end report greater emotional distress, are more likely to abuse substances, and are more frequently depressed.
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  • The report concluded a child is more likely to face cyberbullying by fellow students than being stalked by an online predator. “Bullying and harassment are the most frequent threats minors face, both online and offline,” notes the Harvard report, Enhancing Child Safety & Online Technologies: Final Report of the Internet Safety Task Force to the Multistate Working Group on Social Networking of State Attorneys General of the United States.
  • Bullying can take a variety of forms. Incidents have included stealing passwords, impersonating the victim online, fake MySpace or Facebook pages, embarrassing photos or information being revealed, threats, rumors, and more. And, bullying tends to magnify the longer it exists.
  • Students sometimes will cyberbully teachers or other school employees
  • In January, a federal court in Connecticut ruled that Regional District 10 was within its rights to discipline a student over an off-campus blog. Judge Mark Kravitz rejected Avery Doninger’s claim that the school violated her free speech rights when they refused to let her serve as class secretary or to speak at graduation because of words she wrote at home
  • According to the Hartford Courant, the school district won “because the discipline involved participation in a voluntary extracurricular activity, because schools could punish vulgar, off-campus speech if it posed a reasonably foreseeable risk of coming onto school property, and because Doninger’s live journal post was vulgar, misleading, and created the risk of substantial disruption at school.”
  • In Florida, a high school senior and honor student was accused of cyberbullying after she wrote on Facebook: ‘’Ms. Sarah Phelps is the worst teacher I’ve ever met! To those select students who have had the displeasure of having Ms. Sarah Phelps, or simply knowing her and her insane antics: Here is the place to express your feelings of hatred.’’ Katherine Evans, who was suspended for “bullying and cyberbullying harassment toward a staff member,” sued the charter school in December 2008. A final ruling is pending.
  • In a 2007 incident, 19 students were suspended at a Catholic high school near Toronto for cyberbullying a principal on Facebook. The students called the principal a “Grinch of School Spirit” and made vulgar and derogatory comments. While the U.S. Constitution does not necessarily apply in private school settings, the incident demonstrates that this kind of behavior can happen anywhere.
  • Districts should have a cyberbullying policy that takes into account the school’s values as well as the school’s ability to legally link off-campus actions with what is happening or could happen at school.
  • Anne Bubnic on 09 Apr 09
     
    Good article from AMERICAN SCHOOL on the policies that schools need to have in place to protect both students and teachers from cyberbullies.
Anne Bubnic

Beverly Hills case blends free speech/public schools/cyber-bullying - 0 views

www.latimes.com/...ube3-2008aug03,0,5011764.story

ad4dcss cyberbullying school administrator video youtube

shared by Anne Bubnic on 03 Aug 08 - Cached
  • Anne Bubnic on 03 Aug 08
     
    Middle school friends, talking off-campus, criticize a classmate. A video is posted on YouTube. Now the case is in federal court.
Anne Bubnic

Case Study: Cyberbullying and Free Speech [pdf] - 0 views

www.channelonenetwork.com/...cyberbullying.pdf

ad4dcss case studies cyberbullying legal pdf school administrator

shared by Anne Bubnic on 05 Sep 08 - No Cached
  • Anne Bubnic on 05 Sep 08
     
    Case Study and discussion points. Includes answers to legal questions.
    A bad idea has turned into a full-fledged legal battle ever since the principal of Gibbons Preparatory School, Cornelius Southwick, learned that a group of male students at his school created a website that ranked the qualities of every freshman girl - often in mean-spirited, unflattering ways.
Anne Bubnic

Sexting, and What it Means to be a Girl - 5 views

www.aclu.org/...ting-and-what-it-means-be-girl

aclu sexting digital youth privacy cellphone ad4dcss

shared by Anne Bubnic on 25 Jan 10 - Cached
  • Anne Bubnic on 25 Jan 10
     
    On January 15, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit heard arguments in Miller, et al. v. Skumanick, a child pornography case that, oddly, involves no child pornography. The case goes back to 2006, when two girls aged 12 were photographed by another friend on her digital camera. The two girls were depicted from the waist up, wearing bras. In a separate situation, our third client was photographed as she emerged from the shower, with a towel wrapped around her waist and the upper body exposed. Neither of the photos depicted genitalia or any sexual activity or context. In 2008 the girls' school district learned that these and other photos were circulating, confiscated several students' cell phones, and turned the photos in question over to the Wyoming County district attorney, George Skumanick, Jr.
Judy Echeandia

Lawsuits Test Free Speech in Internet Era - 0 views

www.eschoolnews.com/...index.cfm

ad4dcss digital communication digital law myspace social networking

shared by Judy Echeandia on 11 Jun 09 - Cached
  • Judy Echeandia on 11 Jun 09
     
    A federal appeals court in Philadelphia must decide whether a Pennsylvania middle school can suspend a student who, at home on her own time, created a lewd MySpace page aimed at her principal.
Anne Bubnic

Protecting Kids While Protecting Free Speech - 0 views

www.firstamendmentcenter.org/analysis.aspx

ad4dcss digital citizenship digital communication digital law digital responsibilities

shared by Anne Bubnic on 05 Apr 09 - Cached
  • Anne Bubnic on 05 Apr 09
     
    If Wikipedia is to be believed, cyberbullying involves "the use of information and communication technologies to support deliberate, repeated and hostile behavior by an individual or group that is intended to harm others." Cyberbullying has eclipsed sexual predators on the Internet as the number one concern of policymakers, parents and kids themselves
Anne Bubnic

Education is Best Way for Congress to Address Cyberbullying - 0 views

www.pff.org/...online-safety-free-speech.html

ad4dcss cyberbullying legislation

shared by Anne Bubnic on 22 Jun 09 - Cached
  • Anne Bubnic on 22 Jun 09
     
    If Congress wishes to address cyberbullying through federal legislation, it should focus on education-based approaches instead of criminalization, argue Berin Szoka and Adam Thierer in "Cyberbullying Legislation: Why Education is Preferable to Regulation," released today by The Progress & Freedom Foundation. Criminalizing what is mostly minor-on-minor behavior will not likely solve the age-old problem of kids mistreating each other, a problem that has traditionally been dealt through counseling and rehabilitation at the local level.
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