Student cell phone confiscation and searches post thumbnail

Student cell phone confiscation and searches

According to this article, one Texas school district is now allowing for the confiscation of cell phones from students who display or use them at school, and is considering levying a retrieval fee.  I had mentioned in a comment to a previous post by Justin that other districts are definitely requiring a fee of either […]

Impersonation – a serious form of cyberbullying? post thumbnail

Impersonation – a serious form of cyberbullying?

It goes without saying that youth are exploiting new technological developments (even though everyone is saying it).  I wondered if you all saw the story from Maryland over Christmas break discussing how teenagers are punking their peers by impersonating their vehicles while flying past speed cameras.  This is done by taking a digital photo of […]

New Report on Adolescent Internet Safety post thumbnail

New Report on Adolescent Internet Safety

The Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University released the final report of the Internet Safety Technical Task Force entitled “Enhancing Child Safety and Online Technologies.”  The Report was commissioned by the Multi-State Working Group on Social Networking which is made up of the 50 state Attorneys General who asked the Task Force […]

Reducing Cyberbullying: Is Your School On Track? post thumbnail

Reducing Cyberbullying: Is Your School On Track?

A couple of school districts have recently contacted me in a panic about how cyberbullying has been a major actionable issue for them since the start of the school year, but that they don’t know where to even begin (apart from amending the school policy to cover “electronic” variants of harassment).  They realize that additional […]

Cell Phones and ChaCha post thumbnail

Cell Phones and ChaCha

In the last several months, we have received more calls and emails from school administrators about issue related to cell phones than probably anything else.  The concerns about cell phones are varied.  For example, students are texting on them all hours of the school day, cell phones can be used to take pictures or video […]

Cyberbullying and Schools: Edweek Live Chat (Archive) post thumbnail

Cyberbullying and Schools: Edweek Live Chat (Archive)

At its best, the Internet helps students find information and stay in touch with friends through everything from text-messages and blogs to social-networking and other video- and photo-sharing Web sites. But the Internet can also enable students to aggressively target and harm their peers. This chat will inform educators and parents on how to recognize […]

Offline Consequences of Online Victimization: School Violence and Delinquency post thumbnail

Offline Consequences of Online Victimization: School Violence and Delinquency

As increasing numbers of youth embrace computer-mediated communication to meet academic and social needs, interpersonal violence directly and indirectly related to the Internet is occurring more often. Cyberbullying in particular has shot to the forefront of agendas in schools and communities due to the emotional, psychological, and even physical harm to which victims can be […]

Cell phones on School Campuses in California post thumbnail

Cell phones on School Campuses in California

In keeping with a trend we have been seeing across the country, another school board in California has decided to ban the inappropriate use of cell phones on school grounds (largely to prevent cyberbullying and the recording and online posting of fights). There is one exception – students are able to use cell phones to […]

Suspending driver’s licenses of cyberbullies? post thumbnail

Suspending driver’s licenses of cyberbullies?

Perhaps you saw this article detailing how a school district in Oregon is proposing to work with the state’s Department of Transportation to suspend the driver’s license of a student who has been suspended or expelled at least twice for harassing, intimidating, or mistreating another student or employee using electronic means. Again, it is great […]

Jeff’s Law post thumbnail

Jeff’s Law

Florida’s Governor Charlie Crist has just signed into law the “Jeffrey Johnston Stand Up for All Students Act.” This is due mostly to the efforts of our friend Debbie Johnston from Cape Coral, Florida, a first-grade schoolteacher whose son Jeffrey took his life after being bullied and cyberbullied. This law: – requires districts to adopt […]