{"id":258,"date":"2010-10-19T21:21:49","date_gmt":"2010-10-20T05:21:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/internetsafety.trendmicro.com\/?p=258"},"modified":"2010-10-19T21:30:19","modified_gmt":"2010-10-20T05:30:19","slug":"anti-bullying-education-start-young-start-collaborating","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.trendmicro.com\/internet-safety\/blog\/anti-bullying-education-start-young-start-collaborating\/","title":{"rendered":"Anti-bullying Education: Start Young and Start Collaborating"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>\u00a0By Lynette T. Owens<\/p>\n

My daughter\u2019s backpack always comes home filled with interesting things \u2013 art projects, homework assignments, half-eaten lunches.\u00a0 Two days ago, an unexpected letter was there.\u00a0 It notified us that the students at her elementary school would be discussing diversity, accepting differences and peer pressure as part of our district\u2019s anti-bullying focus.<\/p>\n

I was extremely glad this was happening at our schools at a young age.\u00a0 My husband and I, like many involved parents, teach our kids to respect others and our differences.\u00a0 We\u2019ve told them never to harm anyone physically or emotionally (and to tell us if someone\u2019s trying to harm them).\u00a0 We hope they will internalize this to the point of making good choices when we\u2019re not there to guide them, like the 30 hours a week they\u2019re with their classmates.\u00a0 We believe this is the foundation needed to ensure they do not become bullies and will not tolerate it from others.\u00a0 Having the school nurture the same is invaluable and the kind of partnership parents and schools need to deal with bullying in the age of the Internet.<\/p>\n

I realize we are now experiencing the impact of a Massachusetts law<\/a> passed earlier this year requiring schools to deal with bullying in a comprehensive and proactive way.\u00a0 It was passed in response to recent cyberbullying cases ending in suicides, such as that of Phoebe Prince<\/a>.\u00a0 The law clearly states that bullying, including\u00a0\u201cthrough the use of technology or an electronic device\u201d, is prohibited.\u00a0 School districts are required to have prevention and intervention measures in place, to train staff and students accordingly, and to involve parents and community in the process.\u00a0 But while I am not a lawyer and after reading through the details of the law, I did not see any minimum age requirement to begin educating students.<\/p>\n

Kudos to our school district for including kids my daughter\u2019s age in the process.\u00a0 It makes sense to begin as early as possible since some of the technology used to bully today are ending up in younger hands.<\/p>\n

And as far as involving parents in the process, I anxiously await to see how this will unfold.\u00a0 Today we received an email from the superintendent telling us the process had begun and the program would be rolled out soon, and I will be monitoring (and critiquing on this blog) the progress.\u00a0.\u00a0 I am not suggesting that cyberbullying should be solved solely by schools.\u00a0 Teaching good behavior is the purview of parents and guardians.\u00a0 But the challenge of cyberbullying is that it\u2019s happening in the ether \u2013 neither at school nor at home.\u00a0 It happens many times between students from the same school, but the technology used and the time it is done is often at home.\u00a0 I believe a common understanding of\u00a0the issues and shared responsibility to prevent and intervene is needed between parents and schools. \u00a0It could go a long way to getting a whole community to stand up to bullying online and off.\u00a0<\/p>\n

For Tips and Advice on Cyberbullying go to www.trendmicro.com\/go\/safety<\/a> and read our Safety Tips for Cyberbullying<\/a><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

My daughter\u2019s backpack always comes home filled with interesting things. Two days ago, an unexpected letter was there. It notified us that the students at her elementary school would be discussing issues relevant to our district\u2019s anti-bullying focus.<\/p>\n

We are now experiencing the impact of a Massachusetts law passed earlier this year requiring schools to deal with bullying in a comprehensive and proactive way. Passed in response to recent cyberbullying cases ending in suicides, such as that of Phoebe Prince, the law clearly states that bullying, including \u201cthrough the use of technology or an electronic device\u201d, is prohibited. And school districts are required to have prevention and intervention measures in place, to train staff and students accordingly, and to involve parents and community in the process.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,4],"tags":[29,7,8,6,5,31,10,30,32],"class_list":["post-258","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-for-parents","category-for-teachers","tag-anti-bullying-laws","tag-cyberbullying","tag-digital-citizenship","tag-education","tag-internet-safety","tag-m-g-l-c-71","tag-online-safety","tag-schools","tag-32","wpautop"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t