Data on cyberbullying trends are limited with few organizations tracking their prevalence. The Youth Risk Behavior Survey compiled by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that is administered statewide every other year gives some insight into the issue.
Results from 2013 and 2015 show a higher percentage of North Dakota middle schoolers report being bullied electronically than their high school counterparts.
In particular, about 38 percent of middle school girls reported both years they had been bullied through emails, texts, social media posts and other electronic methods in the 12 months prior to taking the survey.
In the Grand Forks region — composed of Grand Forks, Pembina, Steele, Traill and Walsh counties — 28 percent of middle schoolers reported they had been bullied through electronic means in 2015. Eighteen percent of high schools responded similarly.
“We give them these powerful little computers in their hands and they can say and do anything they want at anytime, and our adolescents don’t necessarily think first,” Gillach said. “They will say things first out in ‘cyberland’ and think about things afterward. They don’t always realize the long-term potential harm that they could be causing themselves and others.”
Statewide data from both survey years indicates a smaller percentage of students reported being victims of that type of bullying as the grade level increases. In 2015, about 28 percent of seventh-graders reported they had been cyberbullied versus 14 percent of 12th-graders.
Policy and procedure
Elroy Schroeder Middle School and others within the district have bullying policies in place that do include cyberbullying and corrective measures for it.
When a student reports an incident involving social media, school administrators must make the determination of whether it has a direct impact on the school environment.
Gillach cited examples such as a student threatening violence to another or a student refusing to attend school because of online comments as cases where there would be a direct tie to school.
A checklist of questions is run through with the reporting student to help administrators come to a decision.
In some cases, there is no impact on the school environment, but that doesn’t mean action is taken.
“I can’t go and give that student detention or suspension or anything of that nature because there’s nothing that’s happening in this environment,” Gillach said of such an incident. “What we will do in that case is we will involve our police liaison officer, because it’s a community-based conflict, and we will contact parents as a courtesy.”
Most of the time, meetings with parents and school officers spur a change in behavior, she added.
North Dakota law defines bullying but does not provide an outlet for criminal prosecution. In some extreme cases, students can be charged with harassment or disorderly conduct and referred to juvenile court.
“As far as law enforcement is concerned, we don’t have a citation that I can write a kid for bullying,” Holweger said.
The subject is broached in school, but both Holweger and Gillach encourage parents to speak with their kids about appropriate uses of social media and monitor their use of websites, phone and tablet apps and text conversations.
“I think that every parent … should have access to their kid’s phone and access to their media sites, have access to passwords and passcodes to get into those and should be able to view those at any time,” Holweger said.
In the five years he has been a school resource officer, Holweger has seen preferences shift in terms of sites and apps, with students moving away from Facebook and heading toward Twitter, Instagram and Snapchat.
As preferences change so do the school district’s efforts to keep up with how its students use the technology and new challenges that come with the latest digital platforms.
“The technology comes out more rapidly than we can keep pace with, so unfortunately for some of those environments we end up being more reactive than proactive,” Gillach said. “But, the message is usually the same as far us wanting kids to be safe and responsible”
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