Wednesday, March 09, 2005
CyberBullies
JoanneJ blog links to a USA today article on CyberBullies occuring mostly between middle school students. In the article Jon Swartz lists the following strategies from Center for Safe and Responsible Internet Use.
"What to do
If you're being victimized by a cyberbully, you have options that should be pursued in this order:
Ignore the cyberbully and block further online communications.
Save evidence and try to identify the bully.
Contact parents of the cyberbully and present them with evidence. Request that the behavior stop.
Inform school officials.
Contact an attorney or file a claim in small-claims court. The parents of a bully can be sued for defamation, invasion of privacy and intentional infliction of emotional distress.
Contact police if there are threats of violence, extortion, hate crimes or sexual exploitation." Source: Center for Safe and Responsible Internet Use
Personally, I really feel teachers, parents and students have not been prepared enough to handle these types of instances. This is certainly worth discussing further in faculty meetings before it gets out of hand. Eventually, there should be some clear parameters set forth in the school handbook.
"What to do
If you're being victimized by a cyberbully, you have options that should be pursued in this order:
Ignore the cyberbully and block further online communications.
Save evidence and try to identify the bully.
Contact parents of the cyberbully and present them with evidence. Request that the behavior stop.
Inform school officials.
Contact an attorney or file a claim in small-claims court. The parents of a bully can be sued for defamation, invasion of privacy and intentional infliction of emotional distress.
Contact police if there are threats of violence, extortion, hate crimes or sexual exploitation." Source: Center for Safe and Responsible Internet Use
Personally, I really feel teachers, parents and students have not been prepared enough to handle these types of instances. This is certainly worth discussing further in faculty meetings before it gets out of hand. Eventually, there should be some clear parameters set forth in the school handbook.
# posted by Mrs.Bowllan @ 10:41 AM 
