Cyberbullying Laws and School Policy: A Blessing or Curse? post thumbnail

Cyberbullying Laws and School Policy: A Blessing or Curse?

Many schools are now in a difficult position of having to respond to a mandate to have a cyberbullying policy, without much guidance from the state about the circumstances under which they can (or must) respond.  When folks ask me if I think there needs to be a “cyberbullying law” I basically respond by saying […]

Self-Esteem and Cyberbullying post thumbnail

Self-Esteem and Cyberbullying

We just received the page proofs from the Journal of School Health (official journal of the American School Health Association) for a piece entitled “Cyberbullying and Self-Esteem” that they recently accepted for publication. There has been much discussion recently as to how cyberbullying is related to depressive symptoms among adolescents, and so we also wanted to […]

A Student Guide to Personal Publishing post thumbnail

A Student Guide to Personal Publishing

Sameer and I recently wrote a concise “Student Guide to Personal Publishing” which was published by Jostens (the class ring and yearbook company).  They contacted us looking for information they could provide to students, parents, and educators about being safe and responsible when publishing material both online and off.  While we regularly discuss these issues […]

A Student Guide to Personal Publishing post thumbnail

A Student Guide to Personal Publishing

Sameer and I recently wrote a concise “Student Guide to Personal Publishing” which was published by Jostens (the class ring and yearbook company).  They contacted us looking for information they could provide to students, parents, and educators about being safe and responsible when publishing material both online and off.  While we regularly discuss these issues […]

Patterson v. Hudson Overturned post thumbnail

Patterson v. Hudson Overturned

Back in March I wrote about this case, where a federal jury had ordered the Hudson Area School District in Michigan to pay $800,000 in damages to a student who was repeatedly harassed by classmates (and allegedly staff) for a period of several years.  A federal district court had been reviewing the facts of the […]

The Current State of Cyberbullying Laws post thumbnail

The Current State of Cyberbullying Laws

It is imperative that everyone who works with youth, but especially law enforcement officers, stay up-to-date on the ever-evolving state and local laws concerning online behaviors, and equip themselves with the skills and knowledge to intervene as necessary. In recent survey of approximately 500 school resource officers from around the United States, we found that […]

New Book Review of “Bullying Beyond the Schoolyard” post thumbnail

New Book Review of “Bullying Beyond the Schoolyard”

Dr. Steve Taffee, Director of Strategic Projects at Castilleja School in Palo Alto, California, has recently posted a very detailed, honest, and helpful review about our cyberbullying book.  He has given me permission to share it with our blog readers, and so I have included it below: With Bullying Beyond the Schoolyard: Preventing and Responding […]

New Details Emerge in the Phoebe Prince Tragedy post thumbnail

New Details Emerge in the Phoebe Prince Tragedy

We’ve discussed different elements of the Phoebe Prince case a number of times on this blog. Recall that Phoebe was the 15-year-old girl who committed suicide in January after being bullied and cyberbullied. She moved to South Hadley, Massachusetts, from Ireland at the beginning of the 2009-2010 school year. Being the new girl, she had […]

Parent’s Response to Cyberbullying: What to do when your Child is the Bully post thumbnail

Parent’s Response to Cyberbullying: What to do when your Child is the Bully

What should you do if your child bullies others online? Elizabeth Englander, our colleague at the Massachusetts Aggression Reduction Center, provided an excellent response to this question in her answer to a parent who commented on the recent New York Times article. First of all, parents need to approach this problem like any other: with […]

Parent’s Response to Cyberbullying: What to do when your Child is the Bully post thumbnail

Parent’s Response to Cyberbullying: What to do when your Child is the Bully

What should you do if your child bullies others online? Elizabeth Englander, our colleague at the Massachusetts Aggression Reduction Center, provided an excellent response to this question in her answer to a parent who commented on the recent New York Times article. First of all, parents need to approach this problem like any other: with […]