School Bullying Council

Katie Anger, a bright-eyed redhead from West Friendship, opened the door for cyber-bullying as a middle-schooler, when she installed the “Honesty Box” app on her Facebook page.

Some teens used the now-defunct Facebook feature to criticize her anonymously, tell her that no one liked her and say things they would never have said to her face.

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• Maryland, USA

“I felt like I almost had no one that would help me through it or be there for me,” recalled Katie, 16, now a junior at Maryvale Preparatory School in Brooklandville. “You just feel alone. I kept telling myself, I’ll be out of middle school in no time and I’ll get a fresh start.”

Such attacks — among the nearly 4,700 cases of bullying, harassment and intimidation reported by Maryland schools in the last academic year — are common encounters for teens online. Cyber-bullying creates a vexing situation for parents and schools to police, because the harassment and intimidation is pervasive, easily kept out of a parent’s view and inescapable to a generation tied to the Internet.

Unlike traditional schoolyard teasing, cyber-bullying can take place 24 hours a day, and often happens off school grounds, making it difficult for school officials to track. And because discipline is left to local school officials, it varies across Maryland, and is considered too subjective to some parents and teachers.

The consequences of cyber-bullying resounded in Maryland after the Easter Sunday suicide of 15-year-old Grace McComas. Her parents said the sophomore at Glenelg High School in Howard County took her life after months of being victimized online.

“This incident underscores the 21^st-century bully, equipped with a cell phone and a Facebook account, is a constant source of torment for our kids. There is no walking away. There is no hiding,” said New Jersey state Sen. Barbara Buono, who was the lead sponsor on anti-bullying legislation there. The state’s law, considered to be the most progressive in the country, requires all schools to have an in-house anti-bullying specialist.

The New Jersey law was passed in January 2011, following the suicide of a Rutgers University freshman who jumped off the George Washington Bridge after his roommate secretly filmed him kissing a man and posted the video online.

“The 21^st-century bullies have made our kids prisoners of their own existence,” Buono said.

Maryland is one of 45 states that spell out the consequences for cyber-bullying in anti-bullying laws, said Jennifer Dounay Zinth, a senior policy analyst with the Education Commission of the States. When the Denver-based commission conducted the same survey in 2005, no state had a clearly defined cyber-bullying provision, she said.

Meanwhile, the White House on Friday endorsed a bill by U.S. Sens. Bob Casey, D-Pennsylvania, and Mark Kirk, R-Illinois — co-sponsored by Maryland Sens. Barbara Mikulski and Ben Cardin — that calls on schools to do more to protect students against bullying and harassment.

The Safe Schools Improvement Act, which ties anti-bullying policies to federal funding, would require schools to have a code that prohibits the conduct, to do more to prevent it and to set new reporting standards.

Why kids cyber-bully

Gregory Fritz, a Brown University professor of psychiatry and human behavior, said cyber-bullying is receiving more attention because of the number of suicides directly related it. He said two groups of young people are cyber-bullies: regular kids and deviant ones.

Children and teens, especially those in middle school and ninth grade, seek acceptance in peer groups with rules that can be cruel or arbitrary, said Fritz, who also is academic director at Bradley Hospital in Rhode Island. Young people will try to reduce their own insecurity at the expense of others.

The age group is also prone to being impulsive and thinking in extremes, two traits that perpetuate cyber-bullying, Fritz said. With a click of a mouse, a teen can send a hurtful message without having thought twice, he said.

Anger and other Maryvale students attended a multi-school diversity conference last week on cyber-bullying, depression, drug awareness, gender stereotypes and disabilities.

It is one of several planned for the Baltimore region, including a forum to be scheduled in early May by Baltimore Ravens running back Ray Rice and Howard County Councilman Calvin Ball.

Sameer Hinduja, co-director of the Cyberbullying Research Center, will be the keynote speaker Thursday at an anti-bullying seminar hosted by Howard County schools and the local PTA.

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/howard/bs-md-ho-cyber-reader-20120422,0,1664908.story

Whether it is Cyber, Mental, Physical or emotional, It hurts, Oh so much. And it NEEDS to stop. These are just some of the stories and points I have seen. Bullying is pathetic, It sickens me. Critism is acceptable, aslong as it isn’t Mean, or racist or horrible… ~ Jacki Brown PS The signs read. And the signs say from the start. ~Bullying. ~Whether it’s cyber or not, Doesn’t matter… ~It hurts people… ~ But there can be many sides to a story… ~Just Remember to speak out against it… ~ Wit

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‘Cyberbullying’ was developed by John Ogilvie High School and was awarded a special commendation in the performance category of the 2010 Anti-bullying Week competition.

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Poll finds social networks the place where Australian kids are most likely to be bullied online. Picture: Getty Images
Source: Getty Images

AUSTRALIA rates number one in the world for bullying on social networks like Facebook, according to a global poll.

While Australia ranked fifth for cyber-bullying overall, nine out of ten parents said when the harassment occurred it was on these types of sites – much higher than the global average of six in 10.

The Ipsos Social Research Institute survey of 24 countries ranked Australia worse for bullying than all of the European countries, along with the US, Britain and China.

The four countries ranking higher than us, in order, were India, Indonesia, Sweden and Canada.

The research comes just a week after Victorian schoolgirl Sheniz Erkan took her own life after being tormented by Facebook bullies.

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Ispsos director Ryan Williams said the goal was to find out how prevalent cyber-bullying was and to find out where it was taking place.

“According to parents, Australian children were less likely to experience bullying in an online chat room, via email, or on their mobile phone, compared to global averages – but were more likely than any other nation to experience bullying via social networking sites, such as Facebook,” Mr Williams said.

Australia ranked 15th for mobile devices, 22nd for online chat, 17th for emails, 20th for instant messages, 21st for general websites and 18th for other forms of technology.

No Australian parent reported bullying was a persistent issue with their children.

Kids Helpline manager of strategy and research John Dalgleish said the rise of cyber bullying was a massive concern as it took it harassment from the playground directly into victim’s bedrooms.

Mr Dalgleish said the rise of social networking sites meant bullying was no longer limited to the classroom and teenagers faced further exposure to harassment thanks to the rise of social networking sites such as Facebook.

“Cyber bullying has a profound impact as it widens the audience (from school) and means it can be seen by anyone,” he said.

“It can be used as an extension of face-to-face bullying and takes it from the classroom and into a child’s own bedroom undermining their sense of safety and security.”

KidsHelpline, which offers hundreds of counselling services to bullying victims a year, urged young people affected by the harassment to come forward and speak out.

Mr Dalgleish said victims should tell a trusted adult or parent who can take action on their behalf, and in extreme cases take it to the police.

He added previous studies on the long-term effects of bullying had showed positive outcomes and an end to the behaviour after victims had told someone about it.

“The first thing victims need to know is it’s not their fault,” he said.

“Action can be taken and it can be stopped.”

Bullying can result in chronic anxiety, depression, fear, anxiety, withdrawal from school and in the worst cases, self-harm.

Parents are urged to monitor their children’s social networking use and speak to them about appropriate behaviour on the internet.

Anyone experiencing bullying or harassment is urged to visit KidsHelpline.

http://www.news.com.au/technology/anti-social-network-australia-the-facebook-bullying-capital/story-e6frfro0-1226246496953

Online spats between school children are spiralling out of control, leading to hate messages, violence and death threats. Picture: The Daily Telegraph
Source: The Advertiser

ONLINE spats between school children are spiralling out of control, leading to hate messages, violence and even death threats.

Experts say 10 per cent of all children now claim to have been cyber-bullied, The Daily Telegraph reported.

The enraged father of one teenage schoolgirl became so incensed by comments he believed a boy had made about his daughter on a social networking site that he accosted him in the street and threatened to “slit his throat”.

The man approached the Year 8 boy as he walked to a bus stop on the state’s mid-north coast and pushed and threatened him before boarding the bus, where he issued further death threats to the boy and other students.

In another disturbing case, a mum went to a school in western NSW and urged her Year 10 daughter to assault another girl after an exchange on a social networking site.

Both girls were suspended, police were called and the mum was banned from entering the school under the Inclosed Lands Act.

In the Tuggerah Lakes area on the NSW central coast, comments on a social networking site led to a Year 8 female being assaulted by another Year 8 girl.

One of the students, who sustained swelling to her forehead and complained of feeling dizzy and nauseous, was taken to hospital. The other girl injured her hand.

Schools increasingly are asking police to investigate serious student online bullying and have shored up cyber safety programs in a bid to head off more trouble.

The NSW Department of Education and Communities has enlisted international expert Professor Donna Cross to help advise students and families about online behaviour.

Professor Cross, from Edith Cowan University in Western Australia, specialises in preventing and responding to aggression. She said about 10 per cent of children now reported being cyber-bullied.

Children who cyber-bullied also were 18 times more likely to bully others in the real world, Professor Cross said.

She said bullies often had higher levels of depression than the victims: “They’re also more likely to be engaging in problem behaviour – unsafe sexual behaviours, smoking, using drugs, graffiti, stealing and truanting.”

Bullying peaks in children at about Year 5 and again at about Year 7 or Year 8.

The first peak coincides with children discovering the power of the peer group and creating their own social pecking order. The second peak occurs when children move from primary school to secondary school.

Researchers have found cyber-bullied kids suffer poor academic achievement, anxiety, depression, poorer physical health, higher school absenteeism, increased loneliness and low self-esteem.

The Department of Education said Facebook could not be accessed on school computers. Its Digital Citizenship website, which deals with bullying and other issues, has received thousands of hits from all over the world. 

http://www.news.com.au/technology/cyber-bullying-spiralling-out-of-control-in-nsw-schools/story-e6frfro0-1226233680802

State Rep. David Rutledge

In the first week of November, on straight party lines, the state Senate passed an anti-bullying bill allowing bullying if it is based on “a sincerely held religious belief or moral conviction.” The immediate fury from families throughout Michigan, and the national media attention, was absolutely justified. The Senate legislation is an insult to all people of faith, effectively opening a door to legalizing hateful behavior.

(The following) week in the Michigan House, it was clear that the “moral conviction” language was deeply flawed, as legislators from both sides of the aisle spoke against the Senate bill.

Another proposal on the table, introduced by Rep. Phil Potvin, R-Cadillac, is much more reasonable. The bill does not include the “moral conviction” exception, and gives districts the freedom to create anti-bullying policies that protect every child, no matter his/her race, gender identity, sex, disability, socio-economic status, religion, or any other characteristic.

The bill is not perfect. Most notably, it does not include enough protections for kids who are bullied over the Internet or on a cell phone. But too much time has passed, too many days, weeks, months have gone by with only debate, and no action.

Given the frightening rash of deaths in recent years of children terrorized by bullies based on their gender identity, I have been part of the push to ensure that anti-bullying policies protect all children. Too often, bullying behavior is tolerated by well-meaning adults who do not recognize homophobia or hate, assuming behavior is just “kids being kids.” It is my hope that in the future, we can come together to ensure that certain groups targeted by bullies are fully protected. I am committed to doing all I can as a state representative to move legislation forward to include these specified protections in state law.

No one disagrees that this process has been delayed for too long. Although the compromise is not perfect, it could give schools the framework they need to protect more children. We will continue to work to improve the law, but we simply must do something, now, to protect our kids.

State Rep. David E. Rutledge is a Democrat from Superior Township who represents the 54th House District, covering the city of Ypsilanti and Augusta, Salem, Superior and Ypsilanti townships.

Photo by Pat Arnow

High school students who work with the drama and arts group ENACT created an original skit to highlight the dangers of sexting. After many pleas from her boyfriend, a girl sends him a topless photo, meant to be just for him, but with just the press of a button, it reaches far and wide into the school community. View more photos.

Resources to help prevent cyberbullying

Commonsensemedia.org works with the New York City Department of Education to teach digital citizenship and internet safety.  Their website includes resources for parents and free classroom curriculum for educators in grades K – 12. There are lesson plans by grade and by topic, to introduce concepts so students understand how and where to draw the line.

WiredSafety.org runs on volunteers worldwide and provides one-to-one help, information and education to cyberspace users of all ages on interactive technology safety, privacy and security issues.

Cyberbullying Research Center has resources such as an electronic dating violence guide for parents and educators and cyberbullying fact sheets and a blog.

Connectsafely.org has social media safety tips for parents and teens and updates on latest developments in technology.

Don’t Stand By, Stand Up is a Facebook page aimed at creating good online citizenship for all. It was created by a high school classmate of Tyler Clementi to honor his memory and ensure that others aren’t hurt as he was. Clementi committed suicide after his Rutgers University roommate streamed his private life on the web.

Teaching Tolerance is a project of the Southern Poverty Law Center with a magazine and website that connect social media with a wide range of social justice issues; the website includes classroom activities for teachers in grades K – 12. 

Netsmartz.org has information for kids, parents, educators and law enforcement to promote a safer online experience.

ENACT is a group that works with New York City students using theatre and role play to deal with issues of concern to students.

New York Peace Institute provides dispute resolution services for schools, including mediation and conflict resolution training.

“We’ve all seen bullying happen, but when I was a kid, you could find places to escape where no one could bother you — you could go home. That literally doesn’t exist anymore,” said City Council Speaker Christine Quinn as she welcomed an audience of a few hundred parents, teachers, students and child advocates to a July 18 summit on cyberbullying held at the Times Center in Manhattan. “Today, bullying can continue 24/7 and it becomes part of your permanent record that really never goes away.”

To combat cyberbullying and create a sense of what it means to be a good citizen on the web, Quinn was joined by a host of adults, including Parry Aftab of WiredSafety.org, fellow council members Robert Jackson, Lewis Fidler and Gale Brewer, Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance and cybersafety experts from Facebook, MTV, ATT, Microsoft and others — and a group of students who in many ways took the lead in the evening’s televised summit.

City high school students led off with a skit on sexting that showed just how easy it is for a life-altering invasion of privacy to occur. A panel of aged 13-19 “teenangels” from WiredSafety discussed how the seamy side of the web has affected them and their friends and how they have learned to make their online experiences safer. “There are more of us who care about children being bullied than there are those who do the bullying,” Quinn said.

Pat ArnowNew York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn welcomes parents, teachers, students and community advocates to the Cyberbullying Summit to learn from each other and make the online world safer. “There are more of us who care about children being bullied than there are those who do the bullying,” Quinn said.

“Cyberbullying happens all the time,” said student panelist Keiko, who as captain of a step team was the recipient of threatening messages. In too many cases, students never turn to an adult to discuss what is going on. Thirteen-year-old Joshua explained that if you put your cell phone down, someone can pick it up, send out threatening messages to a third party and get you in trouble, known as “cyberbullying by proxy.”

Students described their Facebook pages hacked into and changed, the “honesty box” on formspring (a social networking site popular among middle and high school students) being turned into a “hate box” and other devastating online “short-term actions” that have “long-term effects,” as Josh, who lived through the experience, described it.

While students may adapt to and use technology more quickly than adults, they also lack the judgment to fully comprehend its power and the ways in which it can be used and abused.

Pat ArnowTeacher Amy Dawson, of MS 113 in Brooklyn, shared her anguish about students who created fake profiles and called classmates derogatory names that are “so devastating to my students.”

Teacher Amy Dawson, of MS 113 in Brooklyn, shared her anguish about students who created fake profiles and called classmates derogatory names that are “so devastating to my students.” Anna Maria Thomas, a health and physical education teacher at Brooklyn HS of the Arts, said, “I have to tell students to stop taking pictures of other students in the locker room; they don’t understand why it’s wrong!”

Parent Amanda Cintron shared that her son was the victim of cyberbullying on Facebook. “It got really ugly to the point that I had to reach out to the parent of the girl who was sending this. … The girl was 14 and had posted that she was 17. Eighteen and 19-year-old boys were interacting with her, which her mother didn’t know about.”

Making both parents and children more aware of tools to promote cybersafety was part of the takeaway from the evening’s summit.

By Alison Caldwell

Posted June 28, 2011 20:34:00

Cyber bullying is when a child or teenager is threatened, harassed or humiliated using the internet.
(Reuters: Thierry Roge)

The Australian Human Rights Commission says in the world of the web, cyber bullying is an abuse of human rights.

Cyber bullying is when a child or teenager is threatened, harassed or humiliated by another child or teenager using the internet, interactive and digital technologies or mobile phones.

Catherine Branson QC, the president of the Australian Human Rights Commission, says the damage caused by cyber bullying can last a lifetime.

“Cyber bullying can affect large numbers of people and can intimidate them and in some cases leave them with lasting emotional damage,” she said.

“We know that in particular it can affect young people through social networking sites and indeed through their mobiles phones.”

So serious is the issue that the Commission has established a partnership with the Child Health Promotion Research Centre at Edith Cowen University to develop a new anti-cyber bullying campaign.

“What we’re particularly anxious to do is to partner with real experts in the field and develop a campaign that young people will have been involved in developing from the very beginning, to get a campaign that young people will identify with, that they will understand and that they feel is right for them,” Ms Branson said.

Ms Branson hopes the campaign will equip young people with the skills to tackle cyber bullying.

“We hope [to] develop innovative new anti-cyber bullying strategies for young people but we know that there are important things already that can be done – refusing to play the bullying game oneself is important, speaking with your friends that you won’t be involved in bullying, you won’t re-transmit bullying or harassing messages,” she said.

“If someone is being bullied who seeks your help, go with them to someone in authority that can provide the help.

“Simple steps like that can really make a difference.”

The Child Health Promotion Research Centre at Edith Cowan University studied the strategies being used by schools, families and students to combat the effects of cyber bullying.

Dr Laura Thomas, a senior researcher with the centre, says young people want to get involved with the program.

“There’s a great deal of young people who are bystanders to cyber bullying situations,” she said.

“I think that young people are much better at this than we give them credit for. I think they really do want to get involved. It’s just that they don’t know how to do so.

“So we need to give them strategies, not just about what they need to do but how they can go about it. And they’re really motivated when young people themselves come up with those ideas.”

The Australian Human Rights Commission hopes the partnership will become a major force in countering the adverse impacts and often irreparable damage caused by cyber bullying.

Tags:
youth-issues, education, bullying, internet, rights, human-rights, science-and-technology, computers-and-technology, internet, australia

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2011/06/28/3255965.htm

The Australia Communications and Media Authority has launched an out of home campaign – a first for the government body – as it looks to raise awareness about digital reputation, sexting, geolocation and cyberbullying among teenagers in Sydney. The posters contain QR codes that enable teens to directly access the cybersmart website by using their cameraphones. Creative and media were devised by Mediabrands.

ACMA is using outdoor following research from the Department of Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy, which suggested that teenagers pay attention to ads on street fixtures.

“The key message is presented in a strong bold typeface, in a tone of voice that aims to speak with the target rather than at them,’ explained ACMA chairman, Chris Chapman.

The campaign runs until June 19.

The cybersmart website hosts a video targeted at parents that helps them understand the online space in which their children exist.

June 13th, 2011 at 5:11 pm

Have your say

http://mumbrella.com.au/acma-tries-outdoor-to-reach-teens-on-cyberbullying-48922

A comuter keyboard is seen – File / Photo: Ami Vitale/Getty Images

Reporting Fran Schneidau

HARTFORD, CT (WCBS 880) - Connecticut’s top law enforcement official wants to crack down on cyber bullying.

WCBS 880 Connecticut Bureau Chief Fran Schneidau with State Attorney General George Jepsen

Right now, if a bully who targets kids on the internet is caught, he or she would likely be charged with a misdemeanor – breach of peace or, perhaps, harassment.

In Connecticut, Attorney General George Jepsen is pushing a bill that would make cyber bullying a criminal matter – a felony. He says would-be bullies need to know the consequences.

“They need to change their behavior. They’ll be better people for it,” Jepsen told WCBS 880 Connecticut Bureau Chief Fran Schneidau. “We need to change our culture and send a message that bullying isn’t just part of growing up. It’s something that’s wrong and we’re not going to tolerate it.”

In cyber bullying, the instigator is rarely caught.

“You have the anonymity of being on the internet. So nobody knows exactly where this is coming from,” says Stamford‘s youth officer Sgt. Joe Kennedy, who believes that upgrading the law will heighten awareness.

“It’s also to send a message to the parents that if you have kids that participate in this type of activity, that they are going to be charged with it,” says Kennedy.

He notes just last week a list of names of dozens of school girls locally was posted on the internet singling them out as promiscuous.

Jepsen says there is a strong movement toward passage of the bill.

Do you think there should be tougher cyber bullying laws? Sound off below

http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2011/03/21/connecticut-attorney-general-pushes-to-criminalize-cyber-bullying/