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Cyberbullying is becoming so prevalent in Canadian schools and society that it should be made a separate Criminal Code offense, according to a new policy that will be adopted Saturday by the Canadian Teachers' Federation.

Delegates at a meeting of a national teachers' organization have unanimously voted in favour of urging the federal government to make cyberbullying a criminal offense. Members of the Canadian Teachers' Federation endorsed the policy of taking a tougher stand against cyberbullies at the group's annual meeting Saturday in Moncton.

With the proliferation of Web 2.0 tools, rapidly emerging technologies and portable electronic devices, your AUP may need frequent updating. In this section of the CTAP CyberSafety Project web site, you'll find helpful resources for all areas of consideration, including cell phone policies.

Technology has out-paced the legal system in issues related to cyberbullying in the schools. When a cyberbullying incident happens at your school, how will you handle it? What board policies will protect you? What is appropriate discipline? What kind of documentation do you need? How will you assure a safe environment for your students? Learn from national experts who have studied court decisions related to cyberbullying of students, teachers and school administrators.

Learning to Change Changing to Learn Advancing K-12 Technology Leadership, Consortium for School Networking(COSN) Video. COSN was the recent recipient of a $450,000 grant from the MacArthur Foundation to explore policy and leadership barriers to Web 2.0.

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.

From Andy Carvin's PBS Blog. Many advocates of filtering policies insist than an educator may ask to have a site unblocked when it needs to be used in the classroom. But very few teachers have the ability to either get this done promptly by the filter's administrators, or the authority to do it themselves.

CTAP Region IV has designed this collection of Administrator Resources specifically with the needs of school administrators in mind. Administrator Resources cover 6 vital areas:
1. Legal Issues
2. Student Misbehavior in Cyberspace: MySpace, YouTube, Facebook
3. Cybersafety and School Board Policy Statements
4. Cyberbullying Documentation: Incident Reports/Review Process
5. Articles Related to Internet MisUse in the Schools
6. Materials for PTA Presentations

Chances are your district's acceptable use policy is outdated. With the proliferation of Web 2.0 tools, multifunction cell phones and handheld computers, to name just three, it's obvious that keeping AUPs up to date requires constant attention.

When a school or district decides to implement education technology into the curriculum, one of its overriding goals must be to create plans and policies for all members of the learning community to have equitable access and use. Appropriate funding and professional development represent the key means of supporting equitable access and use of technology to ensure technology literacy and to support meaningful learning for all students.

The school has an anti-bullying program and a zero-tolerance policy for bullying. And even though the bullying didn't occur on school grounds, administrators stated that the district has a responsibility to get involved when an incident creates significant disruption or concern at school.

There are no policies at any of the three districts that directly addresses popular social networking Web sites, because, administrations are finding, they can't keep up with technology.

The National Association of State Boards of Education (NASBE) has compiled a database of statutes related to bullying, harrassment and hazing. They are sorted alphabetically by state and include information on latest updates and whether or not there is a state cyberbullying policy.

Computer scientists and policy experts say that such seemingly innocuous bits of self-revelation can increasingly be collected and reassembled by computers to help create a picture of a person's identity, sometimes down to the Social Security number.

Here are 8 tips to monitor and protect one's online reputation from the U.S. Government Information Security Blog: Search your name. Type your first and last name within quotation marks into several popular search engines to see where you are mentioned and in what context. Narrow your search and use keywords that apply only to you, such as your city, employer and industry association. Expand your search. Use similar techniques to search for your telephone numbers, home address, e-mail addresses, and personal website domain names. You should also search for your social security and credit card numbers to make sure they don't appear anywhere online. Read blogs. If any of your friends or coworkers have blogs or personal web pages on social networking sites, check them out to see if they are writing about or posting pictures of you. Sign up for alerts. Use the Google alert feature that automatically notifies you of any new mention of your name or other personal information. Limit your personal information. Tweet/chat/discuss regarding business and the emerging trends in your industry, but limit posting information on your personal life, which could be a subject of major scrutiny by recruiters and hiring managers. Also, be sure you know how organizations will use your information before you give it to them. Use privacy settings. Most social networking and photo-sharing sites allow you to determine who can access and respond to your content. If you're using a site that doesn't offer privacy settings, find another site. Choose your photos and language thoughtfully. You need to ensure that information posted online is written professionally without use of swear words and catchy phrases. Also, be very selective in posting photographs, and use your judgment to ensure that these photographs are how you want the world to see you. Take action If you find information about yourself online that is embarrassing or untrue, cont

Nolensville Elementary School Principal Beth Ferguson recently let parents know that many of their children are on social networking sites designed for teens and adults. While this is not a violation of any school policy, Ferguson was concerned enough to send letters and Internet tips to parents. Ferguson found at least 13 students from her K-5 school on Facebook, the popular networking site, and she knows there are probably more.

Our Acceptable Use of the Internet policy next school year will definitely not only address cyberbullying, it will include a clause that states something to the effect, "If cyberbullying outside of school becomes an issue in which a student feels threatened or unsafe in any way at school, the principal has the authority to discipline the cyber bully." It will give the school community the clear message that cyberbullying will not be tolerated and at the very least will give me a little leverage when I need it.

Fewer than 25 percent of educators feel comfortable teaching students how to protect themselves from online predators, cyberbullies and identity thieves, says a new study from the National Cyber Security Alliance (NCSA) and Educational Technology, Policy Research and Outreach (ET PRO).