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 […]

JuicyCampus.com and the response by schools post thumbnail

JuicyCampus.com and the response by schools

My local newspaper just ran a story on JuicyCampus.com and asked me about it (since it could be considered cyberbullying), and so I figured I’d share a few of my thoughts here.  First, the fact that college students are flocking to the site to read and write highly-offensive gossip about others is a sad commentary […]

Focal areas within cyberbullying prevention and response post thumbnail

Focal areas within cyberbullying prevention and response

Mike Donlin, Senior Program Consultant (aka Program Manager), for Seattle Public Schools (and our good friend and esteemed colleague) recently asked us a few thought-provoking questions about cyberbullying prevention and response.  They are as follows: 1. How can we consistently involve all the major stakeholders – educators, legal, the tech industry, families and youth – […]

Teachers and students “friending” on MySpace post thumbnail

Teachers and students “friending” on MySpace

CNN posted an interesting story about teachers setting up MySpace pages and “friending” their students…and about a Missouri legislator sponsoring a bill banning elementary school teachers from doing so.  I was talking to Justin about this, and we both agree that a state bill banning this activity is completely overboard (another example of how politicians […]

Jostens Renaissance National Conference post thumbnail

Jostens Renaissance National Conference

I just got back from the Jostens Renaissance National Conference. WOW. The energy at this conference was electric. Over 1,100 educators and superstar students from around the country met up in Phoenix to discuss various issues relating to teaching, learning, culture, and motivation (just to name a few). I covered a basic overview of cyberbullying […]

Jostens Renaissance National Conference post thumbnail

Jostens Renaissance National Conference

I just got back from the Jostens Renaissance National Conference. WOW. The energy at this conference was electric. Over 1,100 educators and superstar students from around the country met up in Phoenix to discuss various issues relating to teaching, learning, culture, and motivation (just to name a few). I covered a basic overview of cyberbullying […]

A Call for Legal Clarity post thumbnail

A Call for Legal Clarity

There is an interesting article in this week’s Chronicle of Higher Education in which legal expert Robert M. O’Neil discusses many of the legal challenges facing those who wish to “stand up to cyberbullies.” In the article, O’Neil presents just some of the issues confronting the legal community in responding to cyberbullies. The questions are […]

My teacher can go through the contents of my cell phone?! post thumbnail

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, […]