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A new state law in Kentucky now requires the state Board of Education to develop disciplinary guidelines for bullying. Under the bullying law, the legal definition of harassment would be changed to include student behavior that causes physical harm, intimidation or humiliation for fellow students. The AB 91 law also says bullying can be done and cause harm to a student through the Internet, phone or by mail. It also elevates bullying to a criminal offense - a class B misdemeanor.

The Creative Rights Education initiativewas developed to create awareness of intellectual property rights, to foster a better understanding of the rights connected with creative content, and ultimately, to instill in students a personal respect for creative rights in a way that changes their behaviors and perceptions about digitally delivered content. This program, sponsored by Microsoft, offers a comprehensive set of cross-curricular classroom activities designed for grades 8-10 (but easily adaptable for use in grades 6-12) and organized into thematic units.

When school starts today, Broward County schools will be armed to take action against you.A new district policy, adopted July 22, allows a range of punishments, from "positive behavioral interventions" to suspensions for students, to sanctions against teachers' certificates for "egregious acts of bullying." Included are cyber-stalking and cyber-bullying, which experts say are becoming more common among South Florida students.

Megan Meier Cyberbullying Prevention Act - A federal law has been proposed that defines cyberbullying and specifies penalties (in the form of fines and up to two years imprisonment) for violators. The bill is formally called the Megan Meier Cyberbullying Prevention Act (HR 6123), and was introduced jointly by Representatives from Missouri and California. It anmends the federal criminal code to impose criminal penalties on anyone who transmits in interstate or foreign commerce a communication intended to coerce, intimidate, harass, or cause substantial emotional distress to another person, using electronic means to support severe, repeated, and hostile behavior.

Students reflect on the rewards of cyberspace and then consider bullying scenarios in which they examine their personal comfort levels. They learn to recognize such feelings and responsibly handle the unacceptable behavior of others.

Computers make it easy to make copies of computer software, pictures, words, movies and songs. But copyright laws make it illegal to copy the creative work without the owner�s permission. Making copies of a work protected by copyright is just like stealing. The B4UCopy educational program, available for free download, has a goal of raising awareness of copyright laws and reinforce responsible behavior online.

This guide from Nancy Willard provides parents with insight into these concerns and guidelines to prevent your child from being victimized by or engaging in online harmful behavior. It also provides guidance on things you can do in either case

Nancy Willard and Anne Collier offer eight ways to deal with cyberbullies in this article.
1. Identify and block.
2. Set boundaries.
3. File a complaint.
4. Contact the school
5. Send the parents a certfied "cease and desist" letter.
6. Call an attorney.
7. Contact the local police.
8. Talk with your kids about what's acceptable.

This three-part article includes a discussion of classroom connections to social networking sites and the school's role in intervening when information that affects the classroom is publicly posted on MySpace or Facebook. The authors also provide five key social networking tips:
1. Establish a policy for dealing with incidents in which students break school rules and their inappropriate behavior is showcased publicly on social-networking sites.
2. Outline clear guidelines for administrators that spell out how schools should discipline students based on information garnered from social-networking sites, and let parents and students know about those rules.
3. Educate students about online-safety issues and how to use sites such as Facebook and MySpace responsibly.
4. Have a policy in place for dealing with cyber bullying.
5. If teachers are using social-networking sites for educational purposes, they should establish clear guidelines for how they intend to communicate with students via those sites.

Discussing proper interaction and safety with digital devices is important.

Responsible use of electronic devices is going to become increasingly important because today cell phone is a distraction --- tomorrow it will be in car movies or gps devices. It is the behavior that is the problem and proper focus on real life has to be something we emphasize as we discuss the proper relationship of humans with "gadgets."

It only takes a minute to change your life. In this collaboration with the Kaiser Family Foundation, the PAUSE campaign recognizes that in a minute, everything can change. Impulsive behaviors are part of being young. Through the campaign, Fox Networks Group and Kaiser hope to encourage young people to "pause" - even if just for sixty seconds -- when confronted with a difficult or risky decision, consider the best option, and reach out to get more information and help if they need it. In that minute, they have the choice to make a good or bad call. As PAUSE indicates, "it only takes a minute to change your life." For a young person, that kind of power can be intimidating, yet also very empowering. Site includes PSA's targeting youth and informational resources.

Safe Schools is a California state-wide agency that provides training for a wide range of school issues including environmental, transportation, health, behavioral [drugs, violence and victimization] and human resources.

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.

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

The Olweus Bullying Prevention Program is the most researched and the best-known bullying prevention program available today. * Proven to reduce bullying by up to 70% * Significant reductions in student reports of general antisocial behavior, such as vandalism, fighting, theft, and truancy\n * Significant improvements in the social climate of the classroom and student satisfaction with school life

See Cyber Bullying in the Digital Age. All three authors are clinical psychologists and Olweus Bullying prevention trained. They apply their expertise in this area to online problems related to cybersafety. Dr. Patty Afgatson works with over 100 schools in Cobb County School District, a suburb of Atlanta, GA.

A 2007-2008 research study conducted by Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) reported several key findings that indicate children are logging on to the Internet at a very young age. Parental supervision of this computer activity, however, is generally lax. Not surprisingly, the study found that children are communicating with friends, peers, and others online in ways that show a lack of knowledge in what is ethical, safe behavior.

Worries that the Internet and social networking services like MySpace pose a threat to child safety may be overblown, a report by industry, academics and technology experts suggests. The report, which will be released on Wednesday, suggests that the biggest threats to children's safety online may come from other children, and that their own behavior could contribute to the trouble they encounter.

An online bullying survey was completed by 216 students - 93.7 percent were freshmen- enrolled in the University Experience classes at Kansas State University. The goal of the survey was to determine if bullying behavior followed students from high school into college and how freshmen perceived bullying. The survey used the cyberbullying definition provided in Kansas' anti-bullying law, which took effect in January 2008 and was revised in July to include cyberbullying. The law requires schools to develop anti-bullying policies, plans and preventative measures. Cyberbullying is the use of any electronic communication device, such as e-mail, instant messaging, text messages, blogs, mobile phones, pages, online games or Web sites, to create an intimidating, threatening or abusive environment.

There are hobbyists and there are fanatics. I cannot imagine the pricetag for the computer set up shown here and have to hope that these 11 computers used simultaneously to play world of warcraft are put to "good use" at other times during the day. I also see someone who is online but is not connected with others. To me, if I do things online - I like social spaces because of the "interaction" -- sort of like creating your own friend network of 36 different people and tweeting yourself all day -- sort of Sybil-ish, I think. Addictive behaviors is definitely part of digital health and wellness and helping people know when to draw the line.

Schools can teach basic principles of good citizenship to help shape students' behavior in the virtual world.

A new study finds that 54 percent of teens talk about behaviors such as sex, alcohol use, and violence on the social networking giant MySpace -- presenting potential risks even if all they're doing is talking, researchers said Monday.