LARAIA & MARTINEZ: ISSUE PAPER

Samantha Laraia

Sarah Marinez

4 July 2016

ET 680

Issue Paper

Technology leaders in schools have more responsibilities and roles than most other

people within a school realize. Along with these roles and responsibilities come many issues

specifically related to technology. Amongst these issues, we felt that two were more important

for a technology leader to deal with in our schools than others. In our opinion, cyberbullying and

monitoring social media are two issues that go hand-in-hand within schools. These issues are

important to discuss with students and parents to make sure there is a team effort in letting them

know the importance and how serious these problems can be in school and out of school.

Due to the prevalence and magnitude of technology that is available to kids today,

cyberbullying has become a major issue. As stated by stopbullying.gov, cyberbullying is defined

as bullying that takes place using electronic technology. Electronic technology includes devices

and equipment such as cell phones, computers, and tablets as well as communication tools

including social media sites, text messages, chat, and websites. Examples of cyberbullying

include mean text messages or emails, rumors sent by email or posted on social networking sites,

and embarrassing pictures, videos, websites, or fake profiles. This is an issue that causes

problem both in schools, and outside of schools. According to the Guard Child website, more

than half of adolescents and teens have been bullied online, and about the same number have

engaged in cyberbullying.

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The issue of cyberbullying falls under the ISTE standards for students (Standard 5:

Digital Citizenship - Students understand human, cultural, and societal issues related to

technology and practice legal and ethical behavior). Teaching students to be responsible digital

citizens should come before they are even allowed access to technology in schools. All of the

technology they have access to outside of school is impacted by what happens in school. Most

middle schools and elementary schools do not allow cell phone use during the day. Therefore,

any problems or drama that happens during the school day are brought to social media after

school.

Social media also allows kids to do things without their parents knowing. While parents

may think they know what is going on, many applications that adolescents and teens use today

seem to be designed in a way that is secretive. For example, the Kik messaging app allows kids

to delete conversation they had with others just by logging out of the application. Kids are very

capable of doing things online their parents do not know anything about. Some people will say

that school personnel monitoring student social media is an invasion of privacy. Students need to

realize that anything they put on the Internet or any social media site is free for anyone to see. If

they put it online, someone is going to see it - even if it is something they do not want seeing it.

In our opinion, these issues are more important to discuss in schools that other issues

such as data protection and equitable use. While it is important that students know and

understand these issues, we feel that cyberbullying and monitoring social media definitely take

precedent over the more technical parts of technology. Students must learn to be functioning and

appropriate members of this technological society before we can expect them to understand why

it is fair for everyone to use computers. Data protection is important because students of all ages

need to understand how to protect themselves and their identities. This can connect to the issue

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of cyberbullying because if kid do not know how to protect themselves, online enemies could use

personal information as a form of bullying.

A concern that arose as we were discussing and researching this issue is that Montgomery

County Public Schools has no policy or procedures about cyberbullying. We came up with the

following policies and procedures as a way to deal with cyberbullying and the monitoring of

social media.

Policies

In order for the growing issue of cyberbullying to be minimized there needs to be a strict

and clear policy in place. Cyberbullying policies in schools should be uniform throughout the

district in order to minimize confusion amongst parents, teachers, and students. The policy

should address what constitutes as cyberbullying, and explain the consequences for breaking the

policy. In order for students to gain access to the internet and technology devices owned or

leased by the school students and parents will need to sign the policy at the start of each school

year.

After discussing the issue of cyberbullying we came up with three rules the policy should

include:

Students using technology that is owned or leased by the school for cyberbullying will be

subject to school disciplinary procedures.

Laptops or computers, used to send threats, intimidate or harass, using vulgar

language to communicate the threats or harassment towards a victim

Students using personal technology off school grounds for cyberbullying will be subject

to school disciplinary procedures.

Disrupting the learning environment or causes fear of the victim in which creating

a hostile environment in school.

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Students using personal technology on school grounds, either during the school day, at a

school related function, or at a non-school related function for cyberbullying will be

subject to school disciplinary procedures.

Using cellular devices, iPads, tablets, to send threats, intimidate or harass a

victim, and/or using vulgar language to communicate threats or harassment.

Staff, students, and parents are required to report any instances of cyberbullying that they

are aware of. Reports of cyberbullying may remain anonymous. All reports of cyberbullying

from school staff, students, and/or parents will be investigated by staff and administration.

Students who violate any of these policies will lose their technology privileges at school

for an amount of time that administration deems appropriate. If the cyberbullying continues and

a second offense is committed administration will consider suspension. Any student who is

guilty of a third offense is subject to suspension or expulsion.

Procedures

As we discussed these topics and issues we came up with several procedures that we

thought could be implemented into our schools to help lessen, prevent, and educate all parties

involved in the issue of cyberbullying. These procedures involves students, teachers,and parents.

One procedural idea we had was to have workshops, staff training, and curriculum all

about minimizing cyberbullying. We could also simply do some sort of required staff

development training. This would provide staff with the necessary knowledge and understanding

of what cyberbullying is and how we could help to prevent it from happening. Related to what

was previously mentioned about curriculum, we also thought that the county could make or find

a digital citizenship curriculum for students to partake in at some point during the school year.

Another procedure that would need to be put into place is how these issues will be

reported and investigated. We discussed this a lot and decided that this would either need to be

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mandated by the county so every school is the same, or each school would have to come up with

their own procedures. There must be actions put in place for how these issues are reported,

investigated, and dealt with. Without these procedures put in place, there is really no way to

solve the problem.

There also needs to be as much parent involvement as possible. There should be a parent

meeting regarding the issues revolved around giving students almost constant access to the

internet at school and home. The meeting should be taken place as early in the school year as

possible. During the meeting staff will educate parents on cyberbullying, and the schools policy

regarding cyberbullying. The meeting will include the definition of cyberbullying as well as how

monitoring social media is very important. After the meeting parents will understand the schools

policy on cyberbullying and its consequences. The parent meeting will also include the

importance of reporting cyberbullying.

Memo to Principals

Dear Principals,

As educators, one of our biggest jobs is to protect our students and make sure they know

right from wrong. Cyberbullying is an extremely real and prevalent problem in society today. We

have come up with policies and procedures in order to prevent cyberbullying from happening in

our schools. One of the first steps is to educate our staff on the issue. Staff need to know the

importance of cyberbullying, and how they can educate their students on the issue. We would

like to have staff development on the issue of cyberbullying. These staff development

meetings/trainings will inform staff on what classifies as cyberbullying. They will also teach

staff about the protocol on reporting cyberbullying, and how to handle when cyberbullying is

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reported to them. These meetings/trainings will also inform staff on the policies our schools will

have in place on cyberbullying.

We believe that to help minimize cyberbullying parents and students need to be informed

as well. In order for students and parents to understand the severity of cyberbullying we decided

written policies need to be in place on the issue. The written policy will need to be signed by the

student and their parent/guardian in order for students to gain access to the internet. The policy

will define cyberbullying, and specifically describe what will constitute as cyberbullying. The

policy will also clearly state the consequences for cyberbullying. A copy of the signed policy

will be kept on file at school, and students will keep a copy.

Along with the policy, we would like for teachers to talk to parents about cyberbullying

during back to school night. We think that back to school night will be a great opportunity to

inform parents on this issue, and that our schools are taking it very seriously.

We hope to create an open dialogue and safe environment in which students both

understand the issues and consequences of cyberbullying, and hold themselves accountable for

their actions. Thank you for your consideration of these important procedures and policies on

cyberbullying.

Conclusion

The issue of cyberbullying is a very real and big problem. Using our ideas, policies, and

procedures could help (even in just a minor way) to lessen and hopefully eventually prevent

these issues from being such a big deal within Montgomery County Public Schools. The

monitoring of social media and teaching students to be responsible digital citizens are key in this

process of resolving the issue.

4 July 2016