Policy_Changes


 * Recommendations for School Policy**

Schools board must develop a comprehensive policy for dealing with Cyber Bullying. The CTAP 4 website on Cyberbullying is a great place to start when developing a school's Cyber Bullying Policy: []. We believe that Cyber Bullying policy should be developed by the a district's Board, which will have the resources to draft a legally valid policy. The policy should contain the following elements:
 * Following the example of AB 86, Cyber Bullying should be defined as a subset of bullying, and treated in the same manner.
 * Bullying and Cyberbullying should be defined, and prohibited, even outside of school
 * Students should be taught to report (cyber)bullying to the school principal or another administrator designated by the school
 * Complaints of bullying should be investigated and handled promptly
 * Students must sign the policy yearly
 * The District should implement an anti-bullying educational program
 * Specific consequences for bullying should be in place, and enforced
 * The school should conduct parent education sessions about Cyber Bullying, and have print and online resources available (Willard, 2007).
 * The school should train teachers about Cyber Bullying and how to respond when they hear about cyber bullying between students. All faculty need to have general awareness of cyber bullying, and a core team need to become experts in this area (Willard, 2007).
 * The school should have a safe school committee consisting of adminsitrators, teachers, parents and possibly students. The committee should oversee the school's efforts to address cyber bullying.

We have drafted a sample Cyber Bullying policy, which is based on the policy developed by the Avonworth School District in Pittsburgh, PA.: [].

Schools should be certified that they are conducting appropriate Internet Safety education. The easiest way to do this is to utilize the program developed by i-Safe that includes curriculum, assessment, and auditing tools. The cost of i-Safe's E-Rate Compliance package is $600 for a school district. [] California Technology Assistance Program, Region 4 (CTAP4) has a great resource for Acceptable Use Policies: [].

School Boards should develop Technology Acceptable Use Policies that govern students technology use at school. This will enable Schools to regulate students' cyberspeech if done at school. **Upon report of concern**– Review district computer records of all involved students – Ask about related on-campus interactions – Might also be on-campus activity • Provides even greater authority to respond • If you do not look/ask, an attorney will use failure to do so as evidence of deliberate indifference

Schools must supervise student computer use at all times, and use Internet filtering software. all Willard (2007) School officials have the ** authority ** and ** responsibility ** to respond to any on-campus or off-campus harmful or inappropriate speech through the District Internet system. School officials have the ** authority ** and responsibility to respond to any harmful speech that takes place while students are using personal digital devices on-campus. But ability to monitor and review is limited, so must depend student report. Searching a student’s cell phone or PDA without parent permission may violate state wiretapping laws.

School officials have the ** authority ** to respond to off-campus online speech that creates or threatens substantial disruption at school or interference with the rights of students to be secure or is a true threat But not offensive speech and only rarely if speech targets staff.

Document, Document, Document. You MUST fully investigate and retain all evidence. You must be able to PROVE that student safety, school security, and/or instruction were substantially disrupted or at clear risk of disruption. Based on the facts, a reasonable, objective person would perceive risk of substantial disruption. Willard (2007)

Consult your attorney if you are dealing with a cyber bullying issue and are not sure about your legal position.

Schools should work with their local CTAP representative to help develop their site plan for dealing with cyber bullying: [].

Schools conduct a needs assessment survey of their students to understand the cyber bullying issues that their students are facing. The survey should address cyber bullying issues on campus and off, Willard (2007). A good student survey about cyber bullying is: []. When school officials respond to a report of cyberbullying or a cyberthreat, it is exceptionally important to take the time to fully investigate the situation—through an analysis of online as well as Real World interactions. Willard (2007)

Defining cyberbullying: Bullying through the use of data or computer software that is accessed through a computer, computer system, or computer network of a public K-12 educational institution.

Defining bullying: Systematically and chronically inflicting physical hurt or psychological distress on one or more students and may involve: teasing; social exclusion; threat; intimidation; stalking; physical violence; theft; sexual, religious or racial harassment; public humiliation; or destruction of property.

Responding to cyberbullying: Every staff member is responsible for reporting cyberbullying to the administrator designated to deal with bullying reports. If there is any evidence of cyberbullying either on computers, cellphones or other electronic devices, each staff member is required to report the incident within 24 hours. Cyberbullying evidence should be printed if possible to turn in with the incidence report. Once the report is made, parents/guardians of both sides of the incident must be notified within 24 hours. Police must be notified if there is evidence of a crime as a result of the incident. (i.e. sexual harassment, stalking, threats of violence, etc.) Students will be given due process rights in dealing with the incident. (more language here?) There will also be a confidential reporting system put in place, whereby students can report a cyberbullying incident without identifying him or herself. A written report can be turned into the appropriate location for confidential reporting. Reports must include a description of the offense along with either printed evidence or cyber information where the evidence can be found. Counseling will be provided for both the victim and perpetrator of the cyberbullying incident depending on the severity of the event, as determined by the administrator in charge, the parents and the school psychologist.

Prevention Program: The school shall create a cyberbullying prevention program to educate students and parents about the consequences and effects of cyberbullying. A yearly assembly will inform students about different kinds of cyberbullying, school consequences for cyberbullying, offenses which are criminal and actionable by police officers, effects of cyberbullying on the victims and the perpetrators and strategies for responding to cyberbullying. Guidelines for Internet use will be distributed and signed by parents, along with digital citizenship lessons provided by the technology teachers.Teachers will be educated regarding supervision and monitoring of student Internet use at school. Parents will be given written information regarding the school policy and how to respond to cyberbullying.