Slide 1 : Understanding Cyberbullying
Slide 2 : Art Schouten
Lead Technology Integration Specialist
Orange-Ulster BOCES
aschouten@ouboces.org
Slide 3 : The Digital Native:
People who have grown up in the digital world using technology as a way to communicate, record, educate, and understand society.
Today's tweens and teens are digital natives as they have had access to computers, cell phones, email, and other forms of technology since birth.
Digital Natives speak the language of technology and are as comfortable with technology as past generations have been with pen and paper.
Cyberbullying | A Definition: : Cyberbullying | A Definition: Occurs when a child or teenager is harassed, humiliated, embarrassed, threatened or tormented using digital technology.
It can take the form of a message on email or IM or a social networking site from someone who is threatening to hurt you or beat you up.
It might be rumors posted on your profile or spread online for others to see.
It might be the deletion of you on a friend’s “buddy list” to make you feel left out.
It could be a profile made by someone pretending to be you.
Or, someone hacking into your profile and writing comments pretending they’re from you.
Cyberbullying | A Definition: : Cyberbullying | A Definition: In general, cyber bullying is bullying or harassing that happens online. Much of it is similar to what teenagers experience offline in schools, homes, or the community, but has the additional aspect of the Internet.
Statistics : Statistics Cyberbullying happens more often than people realize.
25% of kids have been bullied while online.
1 in 4 have had it happen more than once.
35% of kids have been threatened online.
Nearly 1 in 5 have had it happen more than once.
21% of kids have received mean or threatening e-mail or other messages.
58% of kids admit someone has said mean or hurtful things to them online.
More than 4 out of 10 say it has happened more than once.
Statistics : Statistics 53% of kids admit having said something mean or hurtful to another person online.
More than 1 in 3 have done it more than once.
58% have not told their parents or an adult about something mean or hurtful that happened to them online (“Cyber Bullying: statistics,” 2004).
Statistics : Statistics Statistics on bullying and suicide: (I-safe)
Suicide is the third leading cause of death among young people, resulting in about 4400 deaths per year, according to the CDC.
For every suicide among young people, 100 of them are suicide attempts. Over 14% of high school students have considered suicide and almost 7% have attempted it.
Bully victims are between 2 to 9 times more likely to consider suicide than non victims.
10 – 14 yr old girls may be at even a higher risk for suicide.
According to statistics reported by ABC News, nearly 30% of students are either bullies or victims and 160,000 kids stay home from school everyday because of bullying.
Notable Cases : Notable Cases
Making Headlines : Making Headlines Megan Meier
After joining MySpace, Megan friended and began talking to "Josh Evans," a local student who Megan did not know.
Shortly thereafter, Megan began receiving cruel, insulting messages from her alleged friend.
The last message sent by the Evans account read: "Everybody in O'Fallon knows who you are. You are a bad person and everybody hates you. Have a bad rest of your life. The world would be a better place without you."
Unable to cope with the abuse of the internet-based harassment, Megan Meier took her own life on October 16, 2006.
Making Headlines : Making Headlines Several weeks after Megan's suicide, her parents began to hear rumors that their neighbor and friend, Lori Drew had created "Josh Evans."
Lori Drew, her daughter, and others involved wanted to "mess with Megan."
Charges were brought again Lori Drew in federal court, but a judge acquitted her of all charges.
Making Headlines : Making Headlines Phoebe Prince
Having recently moved to the U.S. from Ireland, Prince had been taunted and bullied for several months by at least two separate groups of students at South Hadley High School, reportedly because of disputes with other girls over her brief relationships with a senior high school football player and a second male student.
On January 14, 2010, after an entire day of harassment and taunting, followed by a final incident in which a student threw a can at her from a passing car as she walked home from school, Prince committed suicide by hanging herself in the stairwell leading to the second floor of the family apartment.
Making Headlines : Making Headlines Tyler Clementi
An eighteen-year-old student at Rutgers University in Piscataway Township, New Jersey, who jumped to his death from the George Washington Bridge on September 22, 2010. This occurred after his sexual encounter with a man in his dorm room was video streamed over the internet without Clementi's knowledge, by his roommate Dharun Ravi and a fellow hallmate Molly Wei, and after a second attempt was made by Ravi to record Clementi's sexual encounters.
Ravi and Wei were charged with invasion of privacy.
The case is still pending.
Taking a Stand : Taking a Stand
Taking a Stand : Taking a Stand Schools face a difficult challenge. Without concrete state and federal laws in place, school districts are caught in the middle of a problem without defined response tactics.
Are they in violation of the First Amendment if and when they discipline a student for something said on the internet?
How do school districts provide students with a safe learning environment void of threats and/or harassment when the incidents in question may be occurring online and not in their school buildings?
What rights does a school have to suspend or discipline a student for cyber-bullying?
The Role of the School : The Role of the School Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District (1969) was a decision by the United States Supreme Court that defined the constitutional rights of students in U.S. public schools.
The Tinker test is still used by courts today to determine whether a school's disciplinary actions violate students' First Amendment rights.
J.S. v. Blue Mountain School District 593 F.3d 286 (2010), “Electronic communication allows students to cause a substantial disruption to a school’s learning environment even without being physically present.”
The Role of the School : The Role of the School In September 2010, New York State Governor Patterson signed the Dignity for All Students Act, which provides tools for schools districts to incorporate in order to protect their students from bullies. The Dignity for All Students Act set specific guidelines that school districts must address by July 1, 2012.
Revise their codes of conduct and adopt policies intended to create a school environment free from harassment and discrimination;
Adopt guidelines to be used in school training programs to raise awareness and sensitivity of school employees to these issues and to enable them to respond appropriately; and
Designate at least one staff member in each school to be trained in non-discriminatory instructional and counseling methods and handling human relations.
The Role of the School : The Role of the School If you become aware of a situation or a possible situation, report it to the appropriate staff immediately.
Districts have the responsibility to discipline the students accordingly even if much of the incident occur after school or off of school grounds.
The Role of the School : The Role of the School What should you do if an incident arises?
1. Complete a student referral form.
2. Immediately send it to the Assistant Principal/Principal.
DO NOT overlook a possible situation. It is better to inform your administration and begin an investigation then to let is slip through the cracks or escalate into something much worse!
Slide 20 : Any school district in the state may provide, to pupils in grades kindergarten through twelve, instruction designed to promote the proper and safe use of the internet.
The commissioner shall provide technical assistance to assist in the development of curricula for such courses of study which shall be age appropriate and developed according to the needs and abilities of pupils at successive grade levels in order to provide awareness, skills, information and support to aid in the safe usage of the internet.
The commissioner shall develop age-appropriate resources and technical assistance for schools to provide to students in grades three through twelve and their parents or legal guardians concerning the safe and responsible use of the internet. The resources shall include, but not be limited to, information regarding how child predators may use the internet to lure and exploit children, protecting personal information, internet scams and cyber-bullying. Recent NYSED Involvement
Slide 21 : NYSED Learning Standards and Internet Safety:
http://www.p12.nysed.gov/technology/internet_safety/LearningStandardsandInternetSafety.html
Cyberethics: Cyberethics refers to the code of behavior for using the Internet, to include honesty, respect for rights and property of others, consideration of others. "Cybercitizenship," "cyber ethics," and "netiquette" refer to responsible cyber social behavior.
Cyber ethics is a critical component of Information Literacy teaching and learning, as mischevious or intentional misuse of computers can be dangerous and adversely affect individuals and organizations. Recent NYSED Involvement
Slide 22 : NYSED Internet Safety Rubric
http://www.p12.nysed.gov/technology/internet_safety/documents/InternetSafetyProgramEvaluationRubric.pdf Recent NYSED Involvement
Slide 23 : http://www.cyberbullying.us
http://www.isafe.org/
http://kidshealth.org/parent/positive/family/net_safety.html
http://www.fbi.gov/stats-services/publications/parent-guide/parent-guide
http://www.safekids.com/
http://www.connectsafely.org/
http://www.cyberbully411.org
http://www.stopcyberbullying.org/index2.html