Internet+Saftey+in+Schools

=**Internet Safety in Schools: Whose responsibility is it anyway? **=  Every year my children come home with a form for me to sign in order for them to use the computers at school. What is this form? The Acceptable Use Policy. This policy was put in place due to the Children’s Internet Protection Act (CIPA) that was created to alleviate the offensive content on school and library computers. This new law was enforced by Congress and in 2001, the FCC (Federal Communications Commission) mandated rules for implementing CIPA. These new laws required schools to:  Even though the law is in place, how many schools actually monitor the students using the computer? It is almost impossible for the teacher to watch every student like a hawk. This would especially be a concern for those schools who may have computers but not technologically advanced or have the money to tailor there network to meet these requirements. This law does not require the school to track student usage. May be it should. Wouldn't this make it easier to see what the students within the school are doing?
 * Implement a internet safety policy and technology that prohibits unacceptable behavior. They do not receive discounts in the E-rate program unless they "certify".
 * Enforce policy and monitor the students using the internet
 * Ensure that their policy addresses hacking; minor accessing inappropriate content over the internet; the safety of minors while using email, chat rooms, etc.; the unauthorized use or disclosure of the student's personal information; and restricting access to internet content that may be harmful.

Despite these positive strides towards internet safety for students, cyberbullying does happen. Whether in or out of the school, technology was the vehicle that could potentially cause harm to another student by another student. So what can the school do about it? The Macomb Community Unit School District took a stand. They have a online safety team that offers internet safety classes. Another example would be in the state of Virgina, the same type of classes are being offered but were integrated into the curriculum and tailored for each grade. Where does this stop? So who is responsible? The law mandates the school to take precautionary measures against victimization but may times students may even take it out of the school and perform inappropriate acts at home.

How many cases have we heard when a student either posted something negatively about their school or teacher online? How many times have students threatened other students in cyberspace from home? This behavior is carried back into the schools. So how can the law work if these acts performed outside the school directly impact the school and the students. So, now would have to ask, should the law addresses scenarios such as this?

Even though historically there have been court cases that have been won in favor of the cyber victim, there are still some that are lost. A prime example of this is the 2007 case of a Pennsylvania school district taking a stand against a student who made an online parody of his principal. The student was suspended and the case went to court. Unfortunately, the judge indicated that the student's First Amendment rights were violated. Another example of this would be the case again a Missouri student who created a website and used vulgar language against his school and school staff. The charges against him was reversed.

On the other side fo the coin, there have been a few cases that were won by school officials. One in particular was the case in which a student created an online image of their teacher with a severed head. The teacher was awarded $500,000 for defamation and invasion of privacy and then took a leave of absence. Another would be the North Carolina case in which a student posted a Facebook message that the teacher was a pedophile.

Since these acts of bullying could have a negative impact on how the student performs in school, should the First Amendment be relaxed in these cases? How can the schools protect the kids if they are running a 50/50 chance on winning cases?

Many schools began internet safety classes for both students and parents. These classes may cover a wide range topics such as:

 My children's school just implemented a program such as this and it was very interesting. Te students were very engaged into the discussions. This was very pleasing to see since one of their peers was just victimized via Facebook.
 * Computer basics
 * Hacking
 * Email
 * Internet fraud
 * Privacy
 * Filtering and blocking unwanted sites

What some educational institutions must remember is that even the younger generation is tech savvy. In one article that I read, a teacher thought negatively about taking out the time to integrate this topic into her curriculum. She didn't think that her 5th graders even knew about chat rooms and forums such as MySpace. She quickly realized how wrong she was. She's not the only one. I think this topic was one that creeped up on many people in the education field and many scrabbled to put policies in place to address. Fortunately there were resources that they could tap into to assist them in developing their policy. One of the resources that I explored was CyberSmart. This organization offers free tools and workshops for the educator. Their website is great and even provides an curriculum that provides guidance on how to integrate this topic into your curriculum. It gives the educator a sequence of topics for each grade (document attached below).

Even though some students may still have some bad internet experiences, the school that implement internet safety programs are taking preventative measures to address these risks before they occur. Education is key and part of protecting the students is educating them about it uses and how to surf responsibly (especially when so many use social networking mediums to publish everything about themselves).

Related Articles

 * [[file:AUP.pdf]] || [[file:school-reposnsibility.pdf]] || [[file:Cyberviolence.pdf]] || [[file:safety-Ethics.pdf]] ||
 * [[file:internet safety programs.pdf]] || [[file:tangled.pdf]] || [[file:Internet Risk Behaviors.pdf]] || [[file:social media.pdf]] ||

<span style="color: #000080; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">Web Resources
<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">CyberSmart Website Children's Internet Protection Act Free Internet Safety Tutorial Sample Acceptable Use Policies