Education 7201 Fall 2012 By: Alicia Kellier The Responsibility of School Administration in Dealing With Bullying Through the Use of Electronic Media

Table of Contents: 1. Statement of the problem & reason behind choosing the topic 2. From the headlines: brief overview of four cases that illustrate the problem. 3. A review of the related literature. 4. Statement of the hypothesis. 5. Action research to be conducted. 6. References

The Problem: The incidences of bullying through the use of technology is on the rise. There is a call for school administrators to try to rectify, or police, the growing problem. Many question whether it is a problem that schools are able to adequately handle, as the majority of this type of bullying happens outside of school. A student’s right to free speech is also in question as well as their right to privacy. The Reasoning: I chose this topic because I find that it is a growing problem. Recently there has been incidences of students committing suicide due to this specific form of bullying. Most notably on social sharing sites such as Facebook. I feel that schools should come up with some type of punishment or plan of action against any student that is found to be bullying another student through these means. The responsibility of schools to protect their students do not stop at the sound of the dismissal bell. As a part of the community, schools must do all they can to protect the young members of their community.

From The Headlines:  14 year old Georgia middle school student, Alex Boston complains to school officials, as well as police, that she was getting bullied on facebook by two students at the school. They told her that there is nothing that they can do when students are on their own time. Alex is now suing the parents and the classmates for harassment. Ref: www.  Kara Kowalski, a Virginia student, created a fake website in another students’ name that contained derogatory comments that were suggestive in nature. She was suspended for five days and later sued the school officials claiming it was done in her own private time. A federal appeals court upheld the suspension and dismissed her lawsuit citing that the school was within their rights. Ref: www.  14 year old gay Iowa teen, Kenneth Weishushn Jr., committed suicide after receiving hate mail and death threats on his cell phone and facebook. He recently came out as gay to his school. Ref: www.  Most recently a Canadian teen by the name of Amanda Todd also committed suicide after being bullied on facebook from various classmates. The bullying continued even after she switched schools because information on the web can easily be accessed and lives on indefinitely. Sadly the bullying continued even after her death when a webpage was made targeting her and saying that she deserved to die and other derogatory comments. Ref: www.

Literature Review: I am particularly interested in the general strain theory as a possible cause to bullying and how it relates to more sophisticated means of bullying. The general strain theory was proposed by criminologist Robert Agnew. The nature of the theory is that it examines the possible causes of strain in society, particularly amongst youth. The article by Shariff and Hoff speaks about setting legal boundaries for schools in terms of internet use and bullying. It suggests that every entity, including schools and the social sites, should be held liable for any acts of cyber bullying once they are made aware of it. It also suggests for schools to use a four pronged approach that consists of: 1. Developing appropriate strategies 2. Encourage university research and implement teacher training and staff development. 3. Endorse online educational programming. 4. Empowerment of youth in using critical thinking skills. In the article by Dr. Siegel, he speaks of his concern to safety for children in a digital age. He proposes tips to educators and parents in order to help with the problem. In the article by Hinduja and Patchen, they seek to identify the legal obligations that schools and administrators have in response to bullying that is done through electronic media and on a students’ out of school time. In the article by Merrell, Gueldner, Ross and Isava, they seek to identify the usefulness and effectiveness of current strategies in place against bullying at schools. They also identify intervention techniques. In the article by Smith, Mahdavi, Carvalho, Fisher, Russel and Tippet, it targets students aged in its research. It compares traditional and cyber bullying methods. The article, however leans towards traditional methods of bullying as being a more important topic. In the article by Dooley, Pyzalski and Cross it examines the reason for cyber bullying and its prevalence as being attributed to people having the opportunity to bully in a non combatant threatening manner instead of face to face. The article by Kowalski and Limber tackles the issue of electronic bullying amongst middle school students. This article ascertains that this is the demographic that is mostly affected by cyber bullying. The article by Dilmac focuses on the psychological needs of students leading up to their college years in regards to cyber bullying. It gives the results of a lengthy study that examined age, and gender demographics and sought to find any existing correlation. This article by Brown, Jackson and Cassidy speaks about developing guidelines and perhaps laws that can address the issues of cyber bullying.

Statement of the Hypothesis: If it becomes the legal responsibility of school administration and officials to protect elementary and middle school students from bullying through the use of electronic media, then the incidences of this occurring will decrease.

Action Research: I plan to survey ten public schools in order to see what types of policies are in place, if any, in order to gauge how big of a problem it is. I also plan to survey a population between the ages of to see just how prevalent bullying is amongst their target age group. The survey will consist of an equal amount of socioeconomic backgrounds as well as races and genders. Demographics: Elementary and middle school children Male and female students Grades 5 -9

References: Patchin, J. W. & Hinduja, S. (2011). Traditional and Nontraditional Bullying Among Youth: A Test of General Strain Theory. Youth and Society, 43(2) Hinduja, S., Patchin, J. W. (2011). Cyber Bullying: A Review of the Legal Issues Facing Educators. Preventing School Failure: Alternative Education for Children and Youth, 55(2), Kowalski, R.M., Limber, S.P. (2007). Electronic Bullying Among Middle School Students. Journal of Adolescent Health 41 S22–S30. Merrell, K., Gueldner, B., Ross, S., & Isava, D. (2008). How Effective are School Bullying Intervention Programs? A Meta-analysis of Intervention Research. School Psychology Quarterly, 23(1), 26–42. Smith, P. K., Mahdavi, J., Carvalho, M., Fisher, S., Russell, S., & Tippett, N. (2008). Cyber Bullying: Its Nature and Impact in Secondary School Pupils. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 49, 376–385. Dooley, J.J., Pyzalksi, J., & Cross, D. (2009). Cyber Bullying Versus Face-to-face Bullying. A Theoretical and Conceptual Review. Journal of Psychology, 217(4), doi: / Brown, K., Margaret, J., Wanda, C. (2006). Cyber Bullying: Developing Policy to Direct Responses That are Equitable and Effective in Addressing This Special Form of Bullying, 57. Hoff, D.L., Shariff, S.(2007). Cyber Bullying: Clarifying Legal Boundaries for School Supervision in Cyberspace. International Journal of Cyber Criminology 1(1), Dilmac, B. (2009). Psychological Needs as a Predictor of Cyber Bullying: a Preliminary Report on College Students. Educational Science: Theory and Practice, 9(3), Siegle, D. (2010). Cyber Bullying and Sexting: Technology Abuses of the 21 st Century. Gifted Child Today, 33(n2)