Teacher Training

**Being cruel to others by sending or posting harmful material using technological means; an individual or group that uses information and communication involving electronic technologies to facilitate deliberate and repeated harassment or threat to an individual group. (From Demystifying and Deescalating Cyber Bullying: Trolley, Hanel and Shields, 2010) JSD AS67 NEG Policy reads: Cyber-bullying: sending insulting, threatening or harassing messages by phone or computer, or electronic messaging. Also known as: ‘Electronic Bullying’ & ‘Online Social Cruelty’

  Cell phones  Pager text messages  Instant messaging  Defamatory personal web sites  Defamatory online personal polling web sites  Chat rooms

 Instant Messaging: MSN, YAHOO, ICQ-Real time chat, web cam, photos  Cell Phones: camera phone with text messaging  Interactive Games: bullying can occur while playing online games-moderator can assist in terminating the bullying  not real time, forwarding hurtful s  Websites: ”Dave Knight”

 Dave Knight lived in the Toronto area  Was bullied at school  A site was created on yahoo to make fun of him  People added to it, insults, demeaning and embarrassing comments  It took his parents 10 months before Yahoo finally took the site down  Dave stopped going to school and began home schooling to avoid the bullying

 Profiles - personal info, pretend to be someone else  Blogging - online diary, myspace.com  Discussion Boards/Newgroups/Guestbooks- often used to make fun of others, anyone can add to it  Example: ratemyteachers.com

BULLYING DIRECT Occurs on school property Poor relationships with teachers Fear retribution Physical: Hitting, Punching & Shoving Verbal: Teasing, Name calling & Gossip Nonverbal: Use of gestures & Exclusion CYBERBULLYING ANONYMOUS Occurs off school property Good relationships with teachers Fear loss of technology privileges Further under the radar than bullying Emotional reactions cannot be determined {McKenna & Bargh, 2004; Ybarra & Mitchell, 2004}

“Inadvertent”  Role-play  Responding  May not realize it’s cyber bullying “Vengeful Angel”  Righting wrongs  Protecting themselves “Mean Girls”  Bored; Entertainment  Ego based; promote own social status  Often do in a group  Intimidate on and off line  Need others to bully; if isolated, stop “Power-Hungry”  Want reaction  Controlling with fear “Revenge of the Nerds” or “Computer Savvy” (“Subset of Power-Hungry”)  Often Victims of school-yard bullies  Throw ‘cyber-weight’ around  Not school-yard bullies like Power-Hungry & Mean Girls {Parry Aftab. Esq., Executive Director, WiredSafety.org}

“Flaming’: Online fights using electronic messages with angry and vulgar language “Harassment”: Repeatedly sending offensive, rude, and insulting messages “Cyber stalking”: Repeatedly sending messages that include threats of harm or are highly intimidating. Engaging in other on-line activities that make a person afraid for his or her own safety “Denigration”: ‘Dissing’ someone online. Sending or posting cruel gossip or rumors about a person to damage his or her reputation or friendships

“Impersonation”: Pretending to be someone else and sending or posting material online that makes that person look bad, gets that person in trouble or danger, or damages that person’s reputation or friendships “Outing and Trickery”: Sharing someone’s secret or embarrassing information online. Tricking someone into revealing secrets or embarrassing information which is then shared online “Exclusion”: Intentionally excluding someone from an on-line group, like a ‘buddy list’ {Nancy Willard, M.S., J.D., Director of the Center for Safe and Responsible Internet Use}

Cyber bullying typically starts at about 9 years of age and usually ends after 14 years of age; after 14, it becomes cyber or sexual harassment due to nature of acts and age of actors {Aftab} Affects 65-85% of kids in the core group directly or indirectly through close friends (Aftab)

 Block sender’s cell phone number  Change or  Don’t reply to messages from cyberbullies  Tell an adult.  Don’t erase or delete messages  Inform your ISP  Call police if messages are threatening

Who May Be Involved:  School Counselor  Principal  Resource Officer  Police  Attorney (School or Private)  Superintendent  Internet Service Provider General (Willard, 2005) School Limits: Schools have policies against bullying Civil Law Limits: Cyber bullying may also meet standards for ‘institutional torts’ (wrongdoings) Defamation Material that Constitutes an Invasion of Privacy (1 st Amendment) Intentional Infliction of Emotional Distress

Criminal Law Limits The following kinds of speech can lead to arrest & prosecution: Making threats of violence to people or their property Engaging in coercion Making obscene or harassing phone calls Harassment or stalking Hate or bias crimes Creating or sending sexually explicit images of teens Sexual exploitation Taking a photo of someone in place where privacy expected General (Willard, 2005)

‘Educator’s Guide To Cyber bullying: Addressing the Harm of On-line Social Cruelty’ (Nancy Willard, 2005) Law Enforcement should be contacted if educator becomes aware of: Death threats or threats of other forms of violence to a person or property Excessive intimidation or extortion Threats or intimidation that involve any form of bias or discrimination Any evidence of sexual exploitation

‘Offsite Internet Activities and Schools’ (Copyright 2005 Parry Aftab, Esq. All rights reserved) Conflicting decisions in regard to school’s authority with respect to cases under state and federal jurisdictions School should seek legal consult often beyond regular school attorney (e.g., a constitutional or cyber-free speech lawyer) ‘Within School Authority’ Guidelines: Clear-cut threats Clearly disruptive of school discipline encouraged to visit website; student accesses or works on website in school School owned website or school-sponsored project website Any proof of in-school impact (e.g., materials on grounds; psychosocial, behavioral or academic impact on others) Proof the student’s website or harassment has had impact on staff (e.g., quits, leave of absence, medical TX for emotional issues)- otherwise seek outside legal recourse

What Everyone Needs to Know About Cyber bullying’ (Aftab) Education of Children: All actions have consequences Cyber bullying hurts They are just being used and manipulated by cyber bully Cyber bully and accomplices often become the target of cyber bullying themselves Care about others and stand up for what’s right

Comprehensive Plan (Willard, 2005) Schools  Policies concerning misuse of technology  Evaluate how staff is and can more effectively monitor Internet use Parents  Discuss cyber bullying  Supervise and increase effective monitoring of Internet use Since more adults supervise, more children will hide activities, strategies needed to change social norms in these on-line works, empower the victim with knowledge how to prevent & respond, & to discourage bullies from engaging in such activities

Schools should: Focus on values of kindness and respectful human relations Enhancement of empathic awareness Develop effective problem solving skills Empowerment of bystanders

Specific Step Wise Plan: 1 Engage in participatory planning {Integrate into Safe Schools. District Technology Awareness; Non-school Participants} 2 Conduct needs assessment {Assessment available at Center for Safe & Responsible Internet Use} 3 Ensure that an effective anti--bullying program in place {core not authoritarian values; predictive empathy; peer norms vs. bullying; peer intervention skills, effective administrative responses} 4 Review policies & Procedures {Monitoring, report box, internet & other technological pp} 5 Conduct Professional Development {key individual sophisticated in the area; all administrators, librarians, counselors and technology educators basic understanding; all other staff alerted to existence, how to detect} 6 Provide Parent Education {prevention, detection & intervention strategies; alert child to potential consequences of school discipline, loss of family account, civil litigation, criminal prosecution} 7 Evaluate {prevention & intervention programs}

Intervention Strategies for Cyber bullying Directed at Student 1-Save the evidence 2-Conduct a threat assessment {if cyber bullying poses substantial disruption, violence or suicide concerns; contact law enforcement if threats of violence} 3-Assesss response options {direct school nexus may warrant school disciplinary action; if off campus and not substantial threat, no disciplinary action but help victim} 4-Identify the Perpetrators {technical assistance; assess validity of person’s identity; offer technical assistance to parents} 5-Supprt the victim {even if no disciplinary action, offer support and assistance to victim and parents; offer counseling mediation, technical assistance; direct to community resources} 6-Provide guidance on how to remove the speech 7-Seek to use informal resolution strategies {contact perpetrator parents, offer assistance, suggest legal consultation; offer counseling, mediation in school; recognize the cyber bully is a hurt kid and try to help both victim and perpetrator Intervention Strategies for Cyber bullying Directed at Staff 1- Assess Type of Speech 2- Take action based on assessment

 Tell all-it’s okay to tell personal secrets on the internet  I have a free speech right  What happens online is just a game. It is not real. So no one can get hurt  What happens online should stay online

The Truth: YOU WILL BE HELD ACCOUNTABLE

 *Netsmartz (free)  *Adina’s Deck  *Cyberbullying  *Cyber Smart (free)  *Middle School Cyberbullying Curriculum (free)  * activities (free)  *Digitalcitizenshiped.com—Microsoft (free)  *Olivia’s Letters  *IKeepSafe