Posts Tagged ‘cyberbullying’
Cyber-bullying discussed at school safety meeting
Cyber-bullying discussed at school safety meeting
Philly.com
Organizers of a cyber-bullying conference in Gloucester County yesterday set the tone by showing the movie Sticks and Stones.
In it, the popular Lindsay and loner Brandon share a high school English class. Though they rarely speak to each other, they exchange text messages in class and instant messages late at night.
But when Lindsay’s boyfriend gets into her computer, he sends a humiliating picture of Brandon to the entire school. One night he even messages Brandon from Lindsay’s screen name, pretending to be her. When Brandon confesses his love, she tells him to “just disappear.”
He does. The movie ends with Brandon hanging himself from a bridge.
After the viewing, the more than 300 law enforcement officials and educators on hand talked about ways to combat the misuse of technology among students.
“The crimes that are committed by technology are not going to go away,” said Sgt. Steve LaPorta of the Gloucester County Prosecutor’s Office’s cyber-crimes unit. He said Internet safety concerns have grown from child predators and cyber stalking to sexting and online harassment.
The setting for the film and discussion was the third annual School Safety and Security Conference, organized by the Prosecutor’s Office and hosted by six other county prosecutors, including those from Camden and Burlington.
In the 10 years since the Columbine shootings, the development of new technologies - e-mail, texting, instant messaging - “has really presented a challenge to all of us,” said Gloucester County School Superintendent Mark Stanwood.
(click here to view full article)
Ciberbullying is is a serious issue that should not be overlooked. Teens are taking advantage of technology to continue bullying after school. This type of depersonalized bullying can be more harmful than verbal abuse to a victim. When a teen is in front of a screen, it is easier to say things that are more hurtful than spoken words. In cyberspace there is no limit, you can be whoever you want to be.
SchoolTipline provides students with the necessary tools to report any type of bullying. It is important to empower students who are willing to help stop bullies at their schools.
Congress Taking New Anti-Bullying Laws Seriously
By Lauren Barack — School Library Journal, 7/20/2009
Students, educators, and a parent whose son committed suicide after a year of bullying recentyl testified before Congress urging the federal government to intervene.
“I think it’s important to have zero tolerance against bullying,” says Cassady Tetsworth, a 12th-grader and vice chair of the National Youth Advisory Board for the nonprofit Students Against Violence Everywhere (SAVE), testifying before House Subcommittees on Early Childhood, Elementary and Secondary Education and Healthy Families and Communities. “A federal law would make it more concrete, and not just something our school system wants us to do.”
Representative Linda Sánchez (D-Lakewood), who is passionate about this issue, agrees. She has sponsored the Safe Kids Agenda, several bills wending their way through Capitol Hill, including the State School Improvement Act—a bill that will require schools to launch antiharassment programs, and report any bullying.
“It’s important not to watch bullying happen and just be a bystander,” says Tetsworth. “If you say, ‘Hey that’s not cool,’ it sounds better coming from a peer. It’s the power of positive peer influence.”
But while that kind of group pressure works well in person, it does little when a student is faced with an anonymous bully online—whether that bully is a peer, or even an adult. An infamous case involves Lori Drew, a Missouri mother acquitted this month for her alleged role in the cyber-bullying of her daughter’s friend 13-year-old Megan Meier, who eventually committed suicide in 2006.
That incident led Sanchez’s to propose another bill named for the teen, the Megan Meier Cyber-bullying Prevention Act, which would set a prison term of two-years for anyone using electronic means to bully.
“In older days, school yard bullies harassed kids for their lunch money, but children could still come home and feel safe,” says Sánchez. “With cyberbullying it can come 24 hours a day, seven days a week and off school grounds.”
To read full article, click here.
When students and school administrators are proactive in the fight against bullying, their voices are heard. Similar to on school grounds, when peers stand up to bullies, bullying behaviors become less rampant. However, now it’s equally important to combat bullying off campus.
Lawmakers need to be made aware of the seriousness of cyber-bullying and the effects it has on students everywhere.
The Truth About Bullying pt. 2
A student documents a bully pushing a fellow student against a wall.
Oprah interviewed the parents of Ryan Halligan, a thirteen-year-old boy who committed suicide in 2003. His parents believe his death was a result of constant bullying.
The following is a continuation of the article found on Oprah’s Web site from May 6, 2009.
The bullying continued on and off until seventh grade. To his parents’ surprise, Ryan said he was becoming friends with one of his bullies, but things quickly took a bad turn. “He spread a rumor around the school and online that my son was gay,” John says. “It was like a feeding frenzy. All of a sudden, kids who normally didn’t bully Ryan got in on the so-called fun.”
Ryan started getting vulgar, homophobic e-mails but didn’t tell his parents. He also began long online chats with a girl he liked—which turned out to be a devastating setup. “In front of her friends, she told Ryan: “Look, you’re just a loser. I don’t want anything to do with you. I was just joking,’” says John, who says he learned about the incident later. “She and a friend started to laugh.”
A humiliated Ryan said girls like them made him want to kill himself. A month later, Ryan hanged himself in the bathroom of his home. “I remember screaming: ‘Why? Why?’” Kelly says. “I didn’t understand it. He just seemed so happy.”
Today, John shares Ryan’s story with students and teachers to bring awareness to the problem. “Cyberbullying is far more dangerous than what we had to deal with a generation ago,” he says. “The level of pain that can be brought about by this behavior is unbelievable.”
John says he had no idea his son was being harassed online until after his death, when he signed on to his son’s instant messaging account. It was there he says he learned of the taunts—and found evidence of his son’s deep depression. “It was very clear he had been contemplating and actually planning this final act,” he says.
At the time, John says he and his wife weren’t trained to see the signs of depression or suicide in their son. “That last summer he became very withdrawn,” he says. “I just thought he was becoming an older teenager who didn’t want to hang out with Dad anymore.”
-
Next Step - Learn More
-
Share This Blog
