Cyberbullying Policy Assignment #3

Craig Gunter Georgia Southern University FRIT 7330 Summer 2011

Cyber-bullying policy. (n.d.). Retrieved July 5, 2011, from Warwick School District website: http://www.warwick.k12.pa.us/orgmodule.php?deptid=107&schoolid=0007&mid=248 URL: http://www.warwick.k12.pa.us/orgmodule.php?deptid=107&schoolid=0007&mid=248 The Warwick School district of Lititz, Pennsylvania issued this policy. The policy begins by stating that the school district strives to maintain a learning environment in which cyberbullying will not be tolerated. In order to maintain this environment the school district lays out four guidelines that the district will go by: any student found guilty of cyberbullying will be subject to discipline, students who have been cyberbullied will report the incident to a staff member, complaints of cyberbullying will be investigated, and the school district will annually remind students that cyberbullying will not be tolerated. The policy then goes on to define the terms related to cyberbullying and spell out exactly what cyberbullying is. After defining cyberbullying, the policy lays out the responsibilities of all parties within the school district with regard to cyberbullying; students, staff members, and administration. Finally the policy describes the procedure for filing a complaint about cyberbullying, how the complaint will be investigated, and the process administration will take to deal with the complaint. This policy is very complete and thorough. I feel the greatest strength of this policy is that the terms of what constitutes cyberbullying are clearly laid out. Any student who reads this policy will know exactly what the district defines as cyberbullying and will not have doubt as to what they may not do to other students. Another great strength of this policy is that the responsibilities of all students, staff members, and administration with regard to cyberbullying are clearly defined. No one in the district should have a question as to what to do in the case of cyberbullying. I also think the policy is strong in that it lays out the procedures that are to be undertaken in the event of a cyberbullying incident. I found this policy to be very strong and therefore don t have many weaknesses to report. The only thing I would do to improve this policy is to define what the punishment of cyberbullying is more clearly. The policy leaves this pretty open by stating that cyberbullying will be punished with the appropriate punishment consistent with the conduct code. Sometimes this can seem very vague to students. If they defined an exact punishment that will be administered every time cyberbullying takes place the consequences will seem more real to students.

Student bullying and other forms of aggression. (2007). Retrieved July 5, 2011, from Lake County Florida Schools website: http://lake.k12.fl.us/16511031094951697/lib/16511031094951697/Policy_5.33.pdf URL: http://lake.k12.fl.us/16511031094951697/lib/16511031094951697/Policy_5.33.pdf This is the conduct policy for students of the Lake County school district in Florida. The section of the conduct policy related to cyberbullying can be found on page 3 of the document. In this part of the document Lake County Schools defines cyberbullying. Their definition is basically that cyberbullying is the use of technology to harm others or cause emotional distress that may interfere with the victim s ability to receive an education. The document then gives four reasons that cyberbullying is so devastating to students: cyberbullies can hide behind the anonymity of the internet, cyberbullies can spread hateful messages to a lot of people quickly, cyberbullies are difficult to identify, and reflection time before committing a bullying act are cut down on the internet. The policy then points out several examples that constitute cyberbullying. The policy also points out that time and location of an incident cannot be used as a defense when found guilty of cyberbullying. On page five of the policy the procedures for reporting an incident is described and the procedures for investigating a report are found on page six. The rest of the policy defines punishments that may occur for any misbehavior or conduct. The strengths of this policy are that it gives a very good definition of cyberbullying with some examples. A second strength of this policy is that it points out that time and place cannot be used as a defense for cyberbullying. This tells students that their actions at home on the computer have consequences at school. I also believe that it to be a strength of this policy that it tells why cyberbullying can be so devastating to students. Reading this or having students read these reasons why cyberbullying is so damaging may make some students think twice before posting something nasty about another student online. The greatest weakness of this policy that I see is the difficulty in finding things you want to know. The definition of cyberbullying is not alongside the punishment or the procedures in place to deal with the issue. The policy requires jumping around a bit in the document to locate these things. If this document was handed out to students and read the first week of school, as most conduct policies are, that is all that will ever happen. Because of the difficulty of locating procedures and punishments for incidents, I doubt many students will refer to this after that initial reading of the policy. My recommendation to Lake County Schools would be to make their policy document more user friendly if you want students to use it and refer to it.

Students-bullying-cyberbullying. (2010). Retrieved July 5, 2011, from Bristol Connecticut Public Schools website: http://www.bristol.k12.ct.us/page.cfm?p=5730 URL: http://www.bristol.k12.ct.us/page.cfm?p=5730 This policy comes from Bristol, Connecticut. This policy begins by pointing out that the school district s network may not be used for harassment of any kind whether accessed on or off school grounds. In the third paragraph of the policy the district defines cyberbullying as harassing, teasing, intimidating, threatening, or terrorizing another person by sending or posting inappropriate and hurtful e-mail messages, instant messages, text messages, digital pictures or images, or Website postings, including blogs. The policy then states that students or community members who have been cyberbullied by students of the school district should be brought to the attention of the school and that administration will fully investigate such claims. If the cyberbullying by a student took place on a non district computer then punishment will be based upon whether or not the student violated another school rule in the process. The policy then goes on to describe possible punishments that may be brought upon a violator of the policy on cyberbullying. The strengths of this policy are that it provides a very complete and descriptive definition of what cyberbullying is. I also think the policy is strong in that it tells students to print out the offending material and bring it to the attention of administration. Providing evidence such as this should help investigating claims of cyberbullying. The punishments that are laid out for cyberbullying by this district are also strong and easy for students to understand. I think they are taking a strong stand when they state that if an incident of cyberbullying can be defined as a hate crime than the case will be turned over to law enforcement. The biggest weakness of this district policy on cyberbullying is that they state that if the cyberbullying occurred using a non school district computer than another school rule must be broken in order for the bully to be punished. To me, this is opening up an opportunity for cyberbullies to get away with bullying. If they are very careful of what exactly they do this policy would be easy to skate around. With smart phones in the hands of students, none of these are owned by the school district, cyberbullying would be easier to get away with in this district than in the others that I have reviewed their policies.

Dalton Public Schools Cyberbullying Policy Created by: Craig Gunter Dalton Public Schools strives to provide students with a safe learning environment. In recent years cyberbullying has grown as students have become more active online. It is the policy of Dalton Public Schools that no student shall bully another online or through the use of technology.

Cyberbullying defined: Cyberbullying is defined by the district as the use of technology to harass, tease, intimidate, threaten, or terrorize another student or staff member by posting inappropriate or threatening messages through email, on online forums or social networking sites (Facebook, Twitter, etc..), posting inappropriate photos or images, and making website postings (including blogs) with the intent to: 1. physically, mentally, or emotionally harm 2. place another student or staff member in fear of harm 3. create a hostile or intimidating environment

Procedure for reporting a cyberbullying incident/procedures for handling report: 1. If a student feels they are a victim of cyberbullying they will inform a staff member of the event in question a. provide a printed copy of the cyberbullying event in question if available 2. The staff member who receives the complaint will immediately refer the situation to administration. 3. Administration will fully investigate the incident in question. 4. If cyberbullying is discovered administration will hand out punishment for cyberbullying as described below, and refer to law enforcement if deemed necessary.

Consequences/Punishment for cyberbullying: 1st Offense: 5 days ISS 2nd Offense: 5 days OSS 3rd Offense: Expulsion with referral to hearing **If at any time the cyberbullying incident is deemed severe or poses a serious threat to the victim or the victim s ability to receive an education, law enforcement will be notified. ** **Time and place that cyberbullying takes place is not a defense for cyberbullying. If a student is bullied from a home computer the school will still investigate and take action.**