Victims of online bullying may be more likely to be depressed

A study released on Sept. 21 shows that as bullying has moved beyond the schoolyard and on to Facebook pages, online chat groups and cell phone text messages, its victims are feeling more hopeless and depressed, the Washington Post reports. “Traditional bullying is more face-to-face,” said Ronald J. Iannotti, principal investigator for the study, published online in the Journal of Adolescent Health. It says that students targeted by cyber-bullies, who may not always identify themselves, “may be more likely to feel isolated, dehumanized or helpless at the time of the attack.” The study, by the National Institutes of Health, is based on surveys of more than 7,000 American schoolchildren. It offers a troubling portrait of the latest incarnation of an eternal problem. But researchers also say that traditional bullying and cyber-bullying are not necessarily distinct events and that one often flows into the other…

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Missouri schools take on cyber bullying with new law

In recent years, school districts across the country have zeroed in on bullying. Now, a new Missouri law is pushing that effort off campus, placing schools in the midst of the gray area on how to handle the online activities of their students, reports the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. The statute, which goes into effect Aug. 27, requires school districts to put the terms “cyber bullying” and “electronic communications” into their anti-bullying policies, which have been required since 2007. Advocates hope the measure will help districts focus on behavior that many say is growing more prevalent and can be more harmful than traditional bullying. Some districts that have drafted such policies say changes have made a difference. But some lawyers say adding the phrases required under the new law won’t legally change anything. “All this statute did was add a couple of words to it to just make sure that schools were covering it,” said Robert Useted, an attorney for five school districts in St. Louis County. “It has been my experience that most school districts already had a policy dealing with electronic bullying.” The Lindbergh school district, which added the term “cyber bullying” to its discipline policies a couple years ago, says problems with online bullying have decreased since the change. But deciding when schools can discipline for online bullying is something he and other educators are still grappling with…

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Duncan: School bullying now a top federal priority

Duncan says school staff need to set the example. Copyright: Doktory
Duncan says school staff need to set the right example. Copyright: Doktory

Calling attention to one of education’s fastest growing problems, Education Secretary Arne Duncan on Aug. 11 spoke at the nation’s first “Bullying Prevention Summit” to incite a call to action, as well as invite government officials, behavioral experts, and education organizations to brainstorm scalable solutions to bullying in classrooms nationwide.

“This is the first real collaboration between government agencies to help combat the growing issue of bullying,” said Duncan. “Why these agencies haven’t come together before today is a good question. We’re hoping this summit will be the first step in creating a sustained effort against bullying in schools.”

The two-day summit, being held at the Washington Hilton Hotel in Washington, D.C., is intended to help school leaders and government officials pool their knowledge on bullying and then turn this knowledge into plans for action.…Read More

Chicago Public Schools crack down on cyber bullies

Digitally placing classmates’ heads onto other people’s bodies, leaving abusive messages on Facebook profiles, eMailing X-rated images, and inciting violence via text message are all part of the modern school bully’s arsenal, Chicago Public School officials say. But now new district rules mean “cyber bullies” caught using cell phones or social networking web sites to pick on classmates face mandatory suspension, possible expulsion, and a police investigation, reports the Chicago Sun-Times. Officials say the tough stance — which regulates student behavior off campus and outside school hours, as well as during the school day — is necessary to tackle a growing trend of cyber bullying. Studies suggest as many as four in 10 kids are targeted by bullies online. Under the new Student Code of Conduct, passed by the Chicago Board of Education on July 28, cyber bullying will be considered as serious an offense as burglary, aggravated assault, gang activity, drug use, or more traditional forms of bullying. Students who use computers or phones to “stalk, harass, bully, or otherwise intimidate others” will be suspended for five to 10 days and could be referred for expulsion. The details automatically will be referred to Chicago Police, who could hit students with criminal charges. Students caught using district computers to harass others also could lose their computer privileges…

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PTA joins with Facebook to promote internet safety

Parents, schools, and students will soon have a new tool for online safety education.
Parents, schools, and students will soon have a new tool for online safety education.

The national Parent Teacher Association (PTA) and Facebook are joining forces to promote internet safety through a set of tools and resources for children, schools, and parents.

The world’s largest online social network and the National PTA will work together to build a program to provide information and support about such issues as cyber bullying, good online citizenship, and internet security.

Because the partnership is just starting, officials do not have much detail on what kinds of resources they plan to offer through their respective web sites and through other means. But Facebook spokesman Barry Schnitt said the plan is to educate kids not just about being on Facebook, but also about being online.…Read More

U.S. court weighs school discipline for lewd web posts

Courts have issued mixed rulings on whether students can be punished for off-campus internet speech.
Courts have issued mixed rulings on whether students can be punished for off-campus internet speech.

A U.S. appeals court in Philadelphia heard arguments June 3 over whether school officials can discipline students for making lewd, harassing, or juvenile internet postings from off-campus computers, in a pair of cases that could help define the boundaries between students’ free-speech rights and the rights of administrators to punish students for digital indiscretions that occur outside of school.

Two students from two different Pennsylvania school districts are fighting suspensions they received for posting derisive profiles of their principals on MySpace from home computers. The American Civil Liberties Union argued that school officials infringe on students’ free-speech rights when they reach beyond school grounds in such cases to impose discipline.

“While children are in school, they are under the custody and tutelage of the school,” ACLU lawyer Witold Walczak argued in the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. “Once they leave the schoolhouse gate, you’ve got parents that come into play.”…Read More

Opinion: Let’s not create a cyber bullying panic

Recent stories in the press about teenage cyber bullying and real-world bullying, such as the incidents that led 15-year-old Phoebe Prince and 17-year-old Alexis Pilkington to commit suicide, are “sickening,” writes CNET blogger Larry Magid—but cases like these are contributing to a level of panic that might not be justified. “We need to put this issue into some perspective,” Magid writes. “Yes, we should be concerned, but there is no cause for panic. As prominent as it is, bullying and cyber bullying are not the norm. … Depending on what study you read, anywhere from 15 percent to 30 percent of teens say they have experienced some type of bullying or harassment from their peers. And when it comes to bullying in general, the trend is moving in the right direction. Rather than an epidemic, bullying is actually on the decline.” He adds: “It’s worth pointing out that about 80 percent of teens say they have not been cyber bullied, while 90 percent of teens say they haven’t cyber bullied other teens. Posing the issue in the positive is not just a silly math trick—it’s actually a strategy that can help reduce bullying, or at least marginalize those who engage in it.” If kids think bullying is common, or “normal,” he explained, they are more likely to engage in the behavior.  “A better strategy,” he writes, “is to try to convince young people that bullying is not only wrong and unacceptable but is abnormal behavior, practiced by a small group of outliers. Taking it a step further, how can we marginalize bullies so that they—not their victims—are seen as losers, and how can we enlist young people themselves to stand up against bullying when they see it or hear about it?”

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Teen’s suicide after repeated bullying sparks debate

15-year-old Phoebe Prince hanged herself in January, just two days before the school’s winter cotillion.
15-year-old Phoebe Prince hanged herself in January, just two days before the school’s winter cotillion.

A teen’s suicide in bucolic Western Massachusetts has resulted in several of her former classmates being charged with crimes ranging from disturbing a school assembly to civil-rights violations, harassment, and statutory rape. And now the school system finds itself at the center of a heated controversy over its response to the ongoing abuse.

Tormented daily at school and online by a group of “mean” girls and boys, 15-year-old Phoebe Prince hanged herself in January, just two days before the school’s winter cotillion.

“It appears that Phoebe’s death on Jan. 14 followed a tortuous day for her, in which she was subjected to verbal harassment and threatened physical abuse,’’ said Northwestern District Attorney Elizabeth Scheibel. “The events were not isolated, but the culmination of a nearly three-month campaign of verbally assaultive behavior and threats of physical harm.”…Read More

Mass. officials target Facebook to dull bullies’ barbs

Boston-area students and school officials say they have found at least 15 Facebook pages over the last few days that use obscene or hateful language to target female students, as well as a handful of male students, school administrators, and teachers at schools in Boston and surrounding communities, reports the Boston Globe. School and police officials say they consider the pages to be acts of cyber bullying, a form of harassment that has garnered more public awareness after the suicides of two Western Massachusetts students who had been bullied. Boston officials have been scrambling to have the pages removed and have been meeting to figure out how to address the apparent cyber bullying and find the culprits. But as the offending Facebook pages come down, new ones go up. Ranny Bledsoe—principal of Charlestown High School, one of the most severely afflicted schools—said, “It seems to be an absolute epidemic.’’ Nearly 10 percent of the 900 students at Charlestown High have been victimized, Bledsoe said. Students targeted on the Facebook pages say they have been taunted and laughed at by classmates. “It’s a very ugly modern crime,’’ Bledsoe said. “I don’t think students understand the implications of the powerful technology they are using.’’ Boston and school police sent a letter to principals about the bullying issue April 1, and school officials plan to send letters next week to parents to provide them with tips on determining whether their children are victims or instigators…

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9 charged with bullying Mass. teen who killed self

Prince's classmates are accused of incessant harrassment and stalking.
Prince's classmates are accused of incessant harrassment and stalking.

Nine teens have been charged in the “unrelenting” bullying of a teenage girl from Ireland  who killed herself after being raped and enduring months of torment by classmates in person and online, a prosecutor said March 29.

Northwestern District Attorney Elizabeth Scheibel said 15-year-old Phoebe Prince of South Hadley was stalked and harassed nearly constantly from September until she killed herself Jan. 14. The freshman had recently moved to western Massachusetts from Ireland.

“The investigation revealed relentless activities directed toward Phoebe to make it impossible for her to stay at school. The bullying for her was intolerable,” Scheibel said.…Read More

Web slurs target teen suicide victim

Residents of a New York town are angry about the cyber bullying they believe led a teen to commit suicide.
Residents of a New York town are angry about online slurs made against a local teen that have continued even after she committed suicide.

A community reeling from the suicide of a popular high school senior turned its sorrow to outrage March 26 over a practice known as “trolling,” in which derogatory, hurtful comments are posted online against a person.

In this instance, a tribute site created for Alexis Pilkington, 17, of West Islip High School in New York was the target of insulting messages after her death.

“I think it’s horrible. It’s vicious. It’s cruel. It upsets me as a parent,” Lorraine Kolar said as she left a memorial service for Pilkington.…Read More