Ad4dcss/Digital Citizenship

Review of book authored by three Olweus-trained school psychologists on the topic of cyberbullying.

School counselors are not the only people in the school who are responsible for the safety of students, but they may be the primary contact person for parents and students seeking information or help. Providing leadership for students, faculty, administrators, and parents in addressing the topic of cyberbullying may be an important step in ensuring students' safety.

Cyberbullying Advice from the National Association of School Psychologists.

Advice for parents from the National Association of School Psychologists.

Copyright primer for school admnistrators, developed by Hall Davidson. This resource is designed to inform school leaders of what they may do under the law. Very helpful document. We use this at all of our CTAP school administrator trainings.

Responding to the Challenge of Online Social Aggression, Threats, and Distress
This book belongs in every school district! Nancy Willard is Director of the Center for Safe & Responsible Internet Use and a noted expert and speaker on the challenges and legal issues related to technology use in the schools. Her book helps school administrators analyze and intervene in cases involving cyberbullying or cyberthreats. She includes illustrative examples, recommendations for practice, and many practical resources. Available through Amazon.com

[May 2008] AASA article gives examples of school organizations that are desperately and inappropriately blocking the future and Scott McLeod pleads, "Please don't block the future." Please don't relegate your students, particularly those from disadvantaged backgrounds, to second-class status in the new economy because you left it to them and their families to figure out on their own what it means to be digital, global citizens. Ask AASA and its state affiliates to provide more technology leadership-related professional development opportunities. And let us know how we can help.

At a time when computers and internet access are seen as increasingly important tools for instruction, many school leaders are struggling with how best to enforce these policies in the event that students transgress them.

Middle school friends, talking off-campus, criticize a classmate. A video is posted on YouTube. Now the case is in federal court.

Superintendents & Need for Vision on 21st Century Skills. Video was produced by COSN, the Consortium for School Networking.

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.

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.

Colony High School principal Cyd Duffin doesn't do MySpace. So other people had to tell Duffin last October that a fake MySpace page appeared in her name -- a page depicting the principal as a drug-using racist with a sexually transmitted disease who insults disabled students and likes books about pornography, anarchy and the Ku Klux Klan.

Rumors had been flying at Freedom High School in South Riding, Virginia that students were distributing nude pictures of each other on their cell phones. It's a phenomenon, known as "sexting," that's become increasingly worrisome to educators across the country, and Ting-Yi Oei, a 60-year-old assistant principal at the school, was tasked with checking it out. The investigation was inconclusive, but led to a stunning aftermath: Oei himself was charged with possession of child pornography and related crimes

Existing law, the Interagency School Safety Demonstration Act of 1985, states that the intent of the Legislature in enacting its provisions is to encourage school districts, county offices of education, law enforcement agencies, and agencies serving youth to develop and implement interagency strategies, in-service training programs, and activities that will, among other things, reduce school crime and violence, including bullying. Existing law establishes the School/Law Enforcement Partnership and charges it with undertaking several efforts intended to reduce school crime, as specified,including bullying.

This bill would specify that bullying, as used in these provisions,means one or more acts by a pupil or a group of pupils directed against another pupil that constitutes sexual harassment, hate violence, or severe or pervasive intentional harassment, threats, or intimidation that is disruptive, causes disorder, and invades the rights of others by creating an intimidating or hostile educational environment, and includes\nacts that are committed personally or by means of an electronic act, as defined.

Existing law prohibits the suspension, or recommendation for expulsion, of a pupil from school unless the principal determines that the pupil has committed any of various specified acts, including, but not limited to, hazing, as defined. This bill, in addition, would give school officials grounds to suspend a pupil or recommend a pupil for expulsion for bullying, including, but not limited to, bullying by electronic act.

School bullies who use the Internet or text messaging to harass fellow students could be kicked out of school under a bill being considered by the California Legislature [AB 86]

Millions of students head to the nearest computer to conduct school research online. With the Internet's help, they can create everything from detailed projects on rainforests to slide presentations about how a hurricane forms without setting foot in a library."There's a wealth of information on the Internet, and it's a great tool," says Ross Ellis, founder and CEO of Love our Children USA, a child abuse prevention organization that is active in Internet safety. "You can't keep kids off the Internet." Yet the Internet is not the place for an all-access pass. Kids of all ages need parental supervision. A few common-sense tips can help keep your child safe online.

Great tips from Vanessa Van Patten on guarding your kids against identity theft.

On today's Tekzilla Daily, Veronica shows you how to make the most of Vista's built-in tools to help make sure your offspring don't veer too far off track in their computing habits

Internet Safety site that has won some awards -- I want to know the balance of this information and if it shows all aspects of the issue. I would love to have someone do a full review on this one.

This site is full of information about the scary side of the Internet -- it talks about predators and what they look like. It also shows predator warning signs, which could be interesting. I'm curious to see if there is balance and where their facts come from. This is targeted to age 10 and up. There are games and other things in here. I'd like to know some people who have been through this material. It won an award in 2007

Note: this is the same site I posted earlier -as THINKQUEST AWARD WINNER 2007: Internet Safety, Keeping it Real." This Thinkquest Project does focus on the dark side of the Internet, perhaps excessively, our CTAP team thought. But it was created by 6th graders and they are to be commended for their effort. Anyone else here a Thinkquest judge? Judging starts today, actually. It's grueling but a rewarding effort. And you get to see some pretty cool stuff!