School Facebook Pages
I’ve noticed a lot of schools now have their own Facebook pages. Here are some examples: Ramblewood Middle School; Da Vinci Arts Middle School; Lincoln High School. These pages are generally created by teachers, school administrators, or school counselors as a virtual gathering place to students and staff. Does your school have one? I can […]
Formal bans on sexting in school districts
My colleagues and I have been discussing the phenomenon of sexting in great detail recently, in light of the actions of two Texas school districts. Before the beginning of this new school year, the Houston Independent school district (one of the largest in the nation) and the Dallas-Fort Worth school district banned sending sexually-explicit photos […]
School-sponsored PDAs in the classroom?
A colleague sent along this article detailing how some public schools are issuing PDAs to third, fourth, and fifth graders in an effort to render them comfortable with the technology, and as another medium through which they can learn. For example, they can use it to draw pictures, write essays, study flash cards, and take […]
The sexting case in Virginia, and the need to identify and share best practices
Justin and I have both blogged about the case where an assistant principal in Virginia was charged with possession of child pornography after trying to investigate a sexting case through the collection of evidence where a student emailed the evidence (a sexually-explicit picture of a minor) to his office computer. The charges were eventually dropped, […]
New Jersey seeks to require Facebook and MySpace to police users
You’ve probably heard about the proposed law in New Jersey that would require social networking sites like MySpace and Facebook to police their users. This is so frustrating for me to hear, as well-intentioned but oft-misguided legislators propose solutions to overblown online fears. Social networking sites are not responsible for actively surveilling and censoring the […]
Sexting, the Jesse Logan case, and what schools can do
Recently, we’ve received calls and inquiries about “sexting” and the Jesse Logan case, and so I thought we’d discuss the matter here. For those looking for an official definition, we characterize “sexting” as “the sending or receiving of sexually-suggestive or explicit text or pictures via one’s cell phone.” Anecdotally, it seems that the phenomenon is […]
Filtering software for iPod Touch and iPhone web browsing
One of my colleagues, Forrest Collier, over at InternetSafety.com, has just released a sweet new app for the iPhone and iPod Touch that helps parents protect their children from objectionable and problematic content on their mobile device. The program is called “Safe Eyes Mobile” and works just like the built-in iPhone browser with pinch and […]
