Sexting – education, research, and multidisciplinary prevention and response
Earlier this week, I participated in a Summit organized by the National District Attorneys Association and the National Center for the Prevention of Child Abuse with a variety of professionals in the child protection arena. While other attendees focused in on the problem of child sex trafficking, my small group concentrated on the phenomenon of […]
Cell Phones at School and Student Expectation of Privacy
We’ve covered this issue a couple of times before on this blog, but given the interest I thought I would respond to some of the comments that have been posted and provide some insight gained from discussions I have had with folks over the past few months. Some people have suggested that students have effectively […]
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, […]
More on seizure and search of student cell phones at school…
In April, Justin briefly blogged about this article from the Washington post entitled My Students. My Cellphone. My Ordeal. I’d like to follow up by saying that more educators are contacting us with questions on what to do in cases where students have cell phones with sexually-explicit pictures of other youth on them. While the […]
Cell Phones in the Classroom
We have been discussing the issue of cell phones in classrooms a lot lately. Most schools have a clear policy prohibiting the use of cell phones in classrooms and standard practice seems to be “if I see it, you lose it.” Some policies specify that the phones will be confiscated for the day, others say […]
Jamming cell-phone signals on school campuses…
This article from British Columbia refers to a high school principal who bought a cell phone signal jammer from an online dealer in China in order to thwart students from using their phones at school in violation of district policy. First off, hats off to the resourcefulness of the principal in this situation – even though […]
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 […]
My teacher can go through the contents of my cell phone?!
A while ago, I read an article stating that the Manatee County School Board was considering allowing educators and administrators to search student phones in order to find incriminating text, photo, and video content. First, I am not a lawyer and so please keep that in mind. Second, even if this occurs on school grounds, […]
A Teen’s View of Social Media in 2022
Hey all, let me introduce you to Emily, a student I’ve had the pleasure of connecting with over the past year. I asked her to give you all an updated perspective on how she (and her peers) are using the most popular apps out there, and provide some self-reflective observations that can clue you into […]
Virginia (VA) Model Bullying Policy
Below is the model bullying policy made available by the Virginia State Department of Education for school districts within Virginia to use when crafting their own bullying and cyberbullying policies. Each state’s policies vary when it comes to how they: define bullying, harassment, threats, intimidation, and violence; expect reporting and investigating to be carried out, […]
