Cyberbullying affecting schools
Social media's impacts have educational consequences
For some students, there is a disconnection between their real life and their online life, where they transgress their own rules of behavior, according to Pam Mari, director of student services with the Davis school district. (Tilcock/Enterprise photo)
By Jeff Hudson | Enterprise staff writer
It can start with a carelessly worded e-mail message, a jocularly phrased Twitter posting, or a candid photo (taken with a cell phone during a party
that perhaps got a little too boisterous) posted on someone's Facebook page.
All too often, students and even teachers assume these online communications are innocuous, and don't think about the consequences. But in a number of recent cases, there have been local ramifications that have accrued at schools as a result of words or images that were transmitted in cyberspace.
'There have been numerous incidents at our elementary and junior-high levels where students have used their Facebook pages on their own time, through their own computers - but which have had a negative impact on another person and disrupted the school environment,' said Pam Mari, director of student services with the Davis school district. 'In those cases, the law allows us to deal with the situation as a school problem.'
'Every school is aware of this,' Mari said. 'We have had incidents at both elementary and secondary schools - all of which have been resolved through
the same counseling and consequences that would be applied to the same non-electronic behavior that violates student conduct standards.'
'That includes parent conferences, apologies, counseling, detention and suspension,' Mari said. But the online setting of social networking sites has created a new - and indistinct - frontier. 'The public needs to understand that if the nexus between free speech and school is not well-defined, then the school does not necessarily have jurisdiction,' Mari said.
'We have one strong suggestion for students, and parents,' Mari added. 'If you wouldn't say it in front of your grandmother, or want it printed on the front page of The Davis Enterprise, then don't say it online.'
Parent resources
The school district maintains a Web page with advice for parents, which contains sections discussing Web site content, interactive technologies,
privacy, and 'what parents can do.' The address is http://www.djusd.net/learn/tech/parent-resources/internet-safety/.
For the last four or five years, the Davis schools have used the i-SAFE curriculum, which is distributed by a nonprofit foundation that formed in 1998
to promoted wise Internet practices for students. The i-SAFE curriculum is typically taught by librarians in grades 4-6, 'as students begin to look at
research skills and understanding the Internet and safety issues there,' according to Assistant Superintendent Clark Bryant.
This article originally appeared in the Davis Enterprise March 7, 2010. The complete story is available to subscribers at http://www.davisenterprise.com.
