Florida (FL) Model Bullying Policy
Below is the model bullying policy made available by the Florida State Department of Education for school districts within Florida 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, […]
Delaware (DE) Model Bullying Policy
Below is the model bullying policy made available by the Delaware State Department of Education for school districts within Delaware 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, […]
Connecticut (CT) Model Bullying Policy
Below is the model bullying policy made available by the Connecticut State Department of Education for school districts within Connecticut 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, […]
Addressing Religious-based Bullying
Recently, I was a part of a conference held by Facebook and Instagram in Washington, DC. The conference endeavored to bring together members of faith-based NGOs to identify solutions to address bullying and cyberbullying by one’s religion. Overall, it was a productive, energizing few hours together, and I was left feeling very inspired about all […]
Thoughts on the Final Report of the Federal Commission on School Safety
The Final Report of the Federal Commission on School Safety came out this week, and it has created quite a stir among educators and civil rights advocates. I’m just not sure the 180-page document will do much good. For those of you not familiar, the Commission was brought together after the high school shooting in […]
Social Media Companies, Reporting, and Secondary Victimization
One of the complaints I’ve heard most often from educators, parents, and youth when discussing cyberbullying is that social media companies are slow, inept, or unwilling to respond to the formal “reports” they send in through the site or app. This is not only infuriating, but also depressing because it contributes to a feeling of […]
Livestreaming: Top Ten Tips for Teens
(For a formatted .pdf version of this article for distribution, click on the image above [or click here]). Spanish Translation Available Here Online videos are where it’s at these days. But dated, archived videos sometimes aren’t as desirable or compelling as live videos – depending on the content you want to show. Plus, it’s hard […]
Authoritative School Climate: The Next Step in Helping Students Thrive
I’m always on the lookout for innovative approaches to improve student well-being and to create healthy, thriving communities – whether online or on campus. And as you know, Justin and I have examined a number of factors over the years which affect the experience of youth during their journey through adolescence. School climate has been […]
Sextortion Among Adolescents
Thirteen-year-old Amanda Todd made a mistake. The British Columbia teen had just moved to a new town and turned to the Internet to meet people. She’d been chatting online with a man whom she’d become interested in. He said she was pretty. After more than a year of communicating with the man, he convinced her […]
Standing up to Cyberbullying: Top Ten Tips for Teens
(For a formatted .pdf version of this article for distribution, click on the image above [or click here]). Spanish Translation Available Here Don’t be a bystander—stand up to cyberbullying when you see it. Take action to stop something that you know is wrong. These Top Ten Tips will give you specific ideas of what you […]