Lawmakers Help Educators Take Aim at
Cyber Bullying
Prior to implementing a program or strategy to prevent cyber bullying, it is important for school personnel to consult with legal counsel.
Cyber bullying is on legislative agendas
around the country, where state
lawmakers seek to establish guidelines
for schools to address the problem with
formal policies. Cyber bullying presents a
challenge for schools since it can have unclear
boundaries for school intervention.
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Tips for Parents to Stop
Cyber Bullying:
- Teach children never to respond to offensive or threatening e-mail.
- Save messages and contact local law enforcement authorities, if appropriate.
- Contact the service provider to report abusive online behavior.
- Filter or block unwanted messages.
National Center for Missing &
Exploited Children |
Certainly, educators are able—and expected—
to intervene appropriately in bullying
behaviors on campus, even those made online
with school resources. But what about
comments posted from a home computer
on a Web site that is not sponsored by the
school? Can educators do anything about
words and actions that occur outside the
school grounds?
If online harassment disrupts the learning
process, schools may have legal grounds
to use formal disciplinary action based on
the Tinker standard. The Tinker standard
originated with a 1969 U.S. Supreme Court
ruling about the right of a school district
to suspend students for wearing black
armbands to protest the Vietnam War. The
Supreme Court ruled that schools must
demonstrate that the behavior resulted in
“substantial disruption of or material interference
with school activities” in order
to use disciplinary measures against students
expressing their First Amendment
right to free speech (Tinker et al. v. Des
Moines Independent Community School
District et al. 1969). This standard is now
being applied to discipline guidelines for
off-campus speech that is damaging to
a student’s emotional well-being and is
interfering with that student’s educational
experience at school.
However, it is important to note that disciplinary
action alone is not enough. Cyber
bullying often leaves a visible reminder in
the form of harmful images or text.
According to Nancy Willard’s 2007 article
“Cyberbullying Legislation and School
Policies: Where are the Boundaries of the
‘Schoolhouse Gate’ in the New Virtual
World?” published by the Center for Safe
and Responsible Internet Use, it is important
to remove hurtful material (from Web
sites for instance) and ensure the person
who put it there stops harassing the
intended target.
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Tips for Students to Stop Cyber Bullies:
- Refuse to forward cyber-bullying messages.
- Block communication with cyber bullies.
- Report cyber-bullying incidents to a trusted adult.
National Crime Prevention Council |
The Children’s Internet Protection Act of 2000 requires schools and libraries
receiving federal E-Rate funds to implement
“filtering,” a technology protection
measure which blocks visual depictions of
obscenity, child pornography or anything
else harmful to minors. According to the
National Conference on State Legislatures,
21 states also have Internet filtering laws
to block similar material. Virginia became
one of the first states in the nation to
require Internet safety be taught across
grade levels as part of the school curriculum,
The Washington Post reported
in 2008. Lessons began in the 2008–09
school year.
With many school districts developing
new, or revising existing, policies to address
the emerging concerns specific to
cyber behavior, the need for guidance is
considerable. In 2007, the governor of
Arkansas signed into law a cyber bullying
bill (HB 1072) that is highly regarded for
its guidelines on activities that represent a
substantial disruption to education activities.
By 2008, 22 states had adopted cyber
bullying statutes.
In their new book, Bullying Beyond the
Schoolyard, researchers Sameer Hinduja and Justin Patchin, analyze those state
statutes. They suggest six components
that schools should consider in developing
effective cyber bullying school policies
and practices. These suggested elements
of cyber bullying policies are:
- Specific definitions of harassment,
intimidation, and bullying (including
the electronic variants);
- Graduated consequences and
remedial actions;
- Procedures for reporting;
- Procedures for investigating;
- Language specifying that if a student’s
off-campus speech or behavior
results in “substantial disruption of
the learning environment,” the student
can be disciplined by the school;
- Procedures for preventing cyber
bullying.
Balancing one student’s right to free
speech against another’s right to a safe
learning environment is a difficult task. At
the same time, addressing problems early
benefits all students. 
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