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Students and parents at Windsor High School are outraged after a Wyoming police officer doing a presentation on Internet safety scrutinized individual students' MySpace pages, calling the students' pictures "slutty" and saying their sites invited sexual predators. The officer, John F. Gay III of the Cheyenne Police Department, picked out six or seven Windsor High School students' MySpace pages and began to criticize photos, comments and other content until one student left the room crying.

One afternoon in the spring of 2006, for reasons unknown to those who knew him, Mitchell Henderson, a seventh grader from Rochester, Minnesota, took a .22-caliber rifle down from a shelf in his parents' bedroom closet and shot himself in the head. The next morning, Mitchell's school assembled in the gym to begin mourning. His classmates created a virtual memorial on MySpace and garlanded it with remembrances. One wrote that Mitchell was a "hero to take that shot, to leave us all behind. God do we wish we could take it back." Someone e-mailed a clipping of Mitchell's newspaper obituary to MyDeathSpace.com, a Web site that links to the MySpace pages of the dead.

With its evidence room overflowing with cell phones, the Richmond County school board is wanting to give away what it has taken 15 years to collect. The board decided to give the phones back to students when it changed its policy for cell phones in June. The policy replaces the often-criticized rule to seize phones for 365 calendar days when a pupil is caught with one. In 15 years, 5,725 phones were taken from students, according to the public safety department. Of those, 4,566 were still being held by the department this summer. Under the new rules, a parent has 10 days to claim a phone before it is turned in to public safety on the first offense. For a second offense and any phones not claimed at the school on the first offense, public safety takes the phone for 30 days.

The use of filtering or blocking software to prevent teens from accessing social networking Web sites is another approach that schools and parents can utilize. The disadvantage with blocking software is that teens eventually find a way to circumvent the blocking software. "Given the propensity for youth to constantly update language by the use of new words and phrases and alterations to the meaning of existing words and phrases, it would appear a difficult task to keep filtering software fully updated."

Parents who worry that their children watch too much television can take heart: a bigger concern may be children spending too much time online. For children ages 10 to 14 who use the Internet, the computer is a bigger draw than the TV set, according to a study recently released by DoubleClick Performics, a search marketing company. The study found that 83 percent of Internet users in that age bracket spent an hour or more online a day, but only 68 percent devoted that much time to television.

School districts student and Parent Internet & User Agreements for access to the district network.

The Pennyslvania Center for Safe Schools has released a new Internet safety video: Protecting Kids Online. This 22-minute Internet safety resource speaks to parents and caregivers on topics from understanding the serious repercussion of cyber-bullying to learning how to safeguard our children from online predators.

To today's students, online social networking is almost second nature outside of the classroom. What about inside the classroom? Educational software and services are taking a cue from Facebook and MySpace, adding a twist of online collaboration and interaction that brings students, teachers and parents together.

Effects of Cyberbullying: New research by a group of school psychologists trained in Olweus Bullying Prevention methods that they have applied to bullying in the digital environment.

A recent survey by Consumer Policy Solutions has found that online safety and privacy rank highest among concerns of adults online. The consulting firm which focuses on consumer interests and the marketplace, earlier this month released results of a survey that showed 56% of respondents don't think they have enough, or any, privacy online.

Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal has made it one of his priorities to install methods of protection for the state's children when it comes to using these Web sites, hoping to "make social networking safer," according to a press release generated by his office. Efforts by Facebook and MySpace to protect privacy are described in this article.

Topping the list of tough issues children say they face are teasing and bullying, The Nickelodeon/Talking with Kids National Survey of Parents and Kids showed. To children ages 8-15, bullying ranks higher than violence, discrimination or pressure to have sex.

For the last 11 years Marje Monroe and Doug Fodeman have worked to educate schools, parents and students about the issues that affect children in an online world. Their Web site, ChildrenOnline.org, offers practical articles, resources, research, and a monthly newsletter on the topic. Recently, the team, which has a long background in education, self-published Safe Practices for Life Online, intended to show middle and high school students what scams target them and how to use the Internet more safely. A teacher's edition of the book will be available through the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) in November.

The Montana Attorney General's office follows the national lead with a web site of their own on cybersafety resources and information for parents, educators and teens.

Based in Virginia, the Safe Surfin' Foundation works with the Department of Justice and provides parents, teachers and school administrators, law enforcement, community groups and librarians with the information and resources necessary to educate the public about cyberpredators and protect children from Internet crimes.

When it comes to watching over their tech-obsessed teenagers, parents are learning the dangers of too much information. Having the ability to monitor and knowing how to is important. But sometimes the threat of intervention [Don' t give me reason to...] is better than actual intervention.

Research from Northwestern University finds that college students' choice of social networking sites -- including Facebook, MySpace and Xanga -- is related to their race, ethnicity and parents' education.

Children may be net savvy but their critical reading and research skills are not finely honed. They don't understand that they shouldn't believe everything they read. To kids, WIKIPEDIA is still the gospel.

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.

Video and information for parents and educators on safety, settings and lots more.