You aren't invited...
Internet Safety Educator
4 Comments
Last November, a group of Illinois High School students planned and carried out a fight. Nothing new, right? When the two groups brawled on campus, no weapons were involved and thankfully, no serious injuries occurred, but nine students were arrested; 11 girls and 1 boy were expelled, including 3 high school seniors barred from graduation ceremonies. The planning did not occur in the usual school parking lot or hallways, but on the social networking site MySpace. All over who was or was not, going to be invited to a party!
This is the issue many school districts are now facing. Adding cyber bullying to an existing school bullying policy, is one thing. But when something happens to the detriment of others, off campus, then what? Legally, what can schools do?
For those of you who are readers of this blog, you are aware that I HIGHLY encourage vocalizing this concern to your school district. Cyber bullying needs to be addressed, no matter if it occurs on campus, or off. I have written an anti-cyber bullying policy for my school district which addresses the off-campus concern. It is presently under review by attorney's. My goal, if approved, is to push this policy to my entire Region and perhaps, the State as well.
ALL SCHOOLS need to have an anti-cyber bullying policy in place.
Does yours????
Reader Comments (4)
Hello darling! I've posted today your BITSS blog thingy a mobby you know what I mean..........and then I have a special something for you tomorrow!!!!
Atta girl, Ev Nucci!!! Thank you for spreading the word about BITSS
Does it really work, from my school experience I came across 1-2 sites that used my name and had criticizing text on it but it didn’t bother me too much being a ‘geek’ I could easily remove my name but I liked it their it showed what the creator was like.
But I think you need to start at the cause of the problem if it really is bad, all the media do is slag of celebs what’s this doing for the kids this is why I don’t read the news the media really is controlling the children, its like these size zero models and now we have kids trying to be as unhealthy because the media glamorize it all “she brought some new size 0 jeans and don’t they look fabulous” that kind of crap, but it does vary if the papers find a celeb that’s fat they criticize them can you see any connection their to cyber bullying?
I believe you should promote avoiding the news so for example you’re a parent eating dinner with your family and the news comes on change the channel, or don’t buy news papers put a note on your post box saying we don’t accept free newspapers etc.
I really don’t think it’s the kids fault for doing this you need to address the cause of the problem more.
I have loads of theory’s for these problems and a lot of them are based around the media, maybe I just have a lack of understanding but I really do think the majority of blame is based on the media.
Hi Mike,
You bring up some interesting points. The media, in my opinion, does play a large part in how women and girls especially, view themselves. I can tell you, it has impacted me as well as my daughter. And both of us are very thin.
And it's not just size or girth, its age. Youth is in, old is out. I can tell you from my own personal experience, there seems to be a stigma on women getting older, however men tend to get more distinguished and handsome.
This issue of cyber bullying is real. It is growing, and it is getting worse. It doesnt matter if you live in Hawaii, Australia or Singapore; it is a real problem and it needs to be addressed. Although you may have seen some posts that were a bit inflamatory, I'm glad it did not bother you. But for many, any act of bullying, be it electronically or in person, is hurtful and harmful and may have lasting reprecussions.
We MUST, as adults, be informed. We MUST talk to our children about these issues. To not discuss them, or to hope or pretend they do not exist, does a diservice to all. We MUST know what the warning signs are, as parents, as educators and law enforcement officials.
Thanks so much for brining up some excellent points!!