What School Leaders, Parents, & Teachers Need to Know About Internet Abuse

[Demetri Orlando]

What are the important things that school technology leaders, school counselors, and principals need to know about technology mis-use? The following list is from a $200 teleconference being offered on 3/13. I'm surprised this is not a free webcast, but it sounds like the presenter has a legal background...

How Students are Using and Misusing Technology in the School Setting
*Plagiarism and cheating: What students are doing now
*MySpace postings impersonating administrators and teachers
*What authority do you have for disciplining cell phone issues?
*Inappropriate and offensive student-created Internet Web sites

Legal Update on Cyberbullying and Technology Abuse and Discipline
*First Amendment free speech considerations: What you should know
*FERPA requirements: What you need to know
*Fourth Amendment issues & due process requirements
*State Laws against cyberbullying

Cyberbullying: What to do if Technology Misconduct Occurs in Your School
*Proven guidelines for handling incidents
*Suggestions for protecting yourself from potential liability
*What other forms of abuse and harassment are rampant today?

What items would you add to this list that leaders need to be aware of?

[Demetri Orlando]

By the way, in regards to the Frontline episode "Growing Up Online," I thought this was a nice response from the producers during the follow-up online chat:

Chatham, N.J.: What would you suggest is a "happy medium" to keep kids safe and educated while keeping the paranoia of the parents at a low level?

Rachel Dretzin and John Maggio: Realism. Most kids are going to be just fine. I don't think that the internet transforms healthy kids into unhealthy kids, well-adjusted kids into troubled kids. But for kids who are at risk emotionally, the internet can become a rabbit hole. I think that parents should focus on the issues their children are facing in the real world, and know that if those issues are under control, their kids use of the internet is likely to be too.

[Demetri Orlando]

NAIS Legal Counsel, Debra Winger, presented a session at the 08 conference. Her PowerPoint has some nice scenarios that could be used by school Leaders as they think about things they may need to be prepared to have a response for.

[Demetri Orlando]

Excellent presentation posted on Illinois ICE ning.

http://myiltce.ning.com/forum/topic/show?id=1239424%3ATopic%3A11973

[Sarah Hanawald]

Did anyone listen to this? Was it worth it? The audiotape is available and I'm wondering. . .

[Jenni Voorhees]

Now that "Sexting" is all the rage, the consequences of sending inappropriate photos are starting to hit kids who are surprised that sharing naked photos of each other (under 18) might be illegal.

Read the article on CNN: “Sexting” lands teen on sex offender list
http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/04/07/sexting.busts/index.html

It’s an interesting problem, and shows how important it is to raise awareness of the consequences of thoughtless actions before they come back to bite you. At the end of the article the boy who is now a convicted sex offender complains: Alpert says, "I'm being punished for the rest of my life for something that took two minutes or less to do."
It’s interesting that he thinks this is an argument for why he shouldn’t be convicted. Lots of crimes only take two minutes or less. He needed to be more aware of what he was doing before he took those actions…

So, on this list we need to emphasize what the real consequences might be of actions done in anger or as a joke.