Podcast Series: Innovations in Education

Explore the full series of eSchool News podcasts hosted by Kevin Hogan—created to keep you on the cutting edge of innovations in education.

Free service allows bully reporting by text

If the school official needs more information, he or she can text back to the student.

Students are getting a new weapon to fight back against bullies: their cell phones.

A leading ed-tech company on May 29 announced it would give schools a free and confidential way for students to tell school officials via text that they are being bullied or are witnessing bullying. Blackboard’s TipTxt program could change the school climate—or reveal just how pervasive student-on-student harassment has become.

“Kids have cell phones. They have mobile devices,” said Blackboard chief executive officer Jay Bhatt, whose 9-year-old daughter is already sending digital messages to her friends. “They’re constantly interacting with their mobile devices.”…Read More

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Divided sentiments over fitting punishment for webcam spying

The Rutgers webcam case was recently linked to this year's presidential race.

As the trial of former Rutgers University freshman Dharun Ravi riveted the nation earlier this year, there seemed to be a widespread consensus that his high-tech spying on his gay roommate was heinous and should be punished.

But when the jury convicted Ravi of bias crimes and invasion of privacy, there was little public agreement about what should happen next.

What’s a just penalty for an 18-year-old offender who seemed to have been clueless about the risk of such dire consequences?…Read More

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ACLU says Washington schools can’t seize student phones

The American Civil Liberties Union has objected to a proposed new policy in a Washington state school system that would let school officials seize students’ cell phones if they have probable cause, reports the Seattle Times. Bullying has taken a technological turn, and officials at Oak Harbor School District are looking for ways to control it. Under a proposed new policy, that might mean seizing students’ phones with probable cause. But do schools have that right? The ACLU of Washington says no. “One shouldn’t have to give up the right to privacy to have the other right of public education,” said Brian Alseth, director of the group’s Technology and Liberty project, which aims to protect technological rights and prevent governmental abuse. The organization objected to the proposed policy in a letter to the district superintendent; it has offered proposed changes, too. The School Board discussed the policy at its Aug. 30 meeting. Superintendent Rick Schulte said the district wouldn’t implement it until at least Sept. 13. He said the board will take that time to consider advice such as the ACLU’s. The proposed policy would fulfill a state requirement that bullying policies be updated by 2011, he said. Alseth said his main concern is that school officials would have “unfettered access” to students’ phones. If principals were searching a phone for harassing messages, they might, for example, learn about a pregnancy or a student’s politics—information that should be private. But Schulte said that although the policy would allow district officials to seize cell phones without permission, they’d avoid doing so…

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A best friend? You must be kidding

Traditional best-friend bonds might be suffering at the hands of school officials intent on discouraging anything that hints of exclusivity in an era when cliques can lead to bullying, both face-to-face and online, reports the New York Times. Increasingly, some educators and other professionals who work with children are asking a question that might surprise their parents: Should a child really have a best friend? Most children naturally seek close friends. But the classic best-friend bond signals potential trouble for school officials concerned about cliques and bullying. “I think it is kids’ preference to pair up and have that one best friend. As adults—teachers and counselors—we try to encourage them not to do that,” said Christine Laycob, director of counseling at Mary Institute and St. Louis Country Day School in St. Louis. “We try to … get them to have big groups of friends and not be so possessive about friends.” That attitude is a blunt manifestation of a mind-set that has led adults to become ever more involved in children’s social lives in recent years. While in the past a social slight in backyard games rarely came to teachers’ attention the next day, today an upsetting text message from one middle school student to another is often forwarded to school administrators, who frequently feel compelled to intervene in the relationship. Indeed, much of the effort to encourage children to be friends with everyone is meant to head off bullying and other extreme consequences of social exclusion…

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Security expert offers valuable insights for schools

eSN's new security blog covers intrusion prevention, mass notification, anti-bullying measures, and more.
eSN's new security blog covers intrusion prevention, emergency notification, anti-bullying steps, and more.

Six things administrators can do to enhance the safety of their schools … two key ways to prevent bullying from occurring … how to control access to school buildings more effectively: These are some of the many nuggets of wisdom served up in a new eSchool News blog on school security.

Written by Patrick Fiel, public safety adviser for ADT Security Services and a former executive director of security for the Washington, D.C., Public School System, the blog offers valuable school safety insights every Tuesday and Thursday.

Fiel—who learned how to protect stakeholders’ safety during his 22 years of service in the Army Military Police Corps, where he had special assignments to the Pentagon, NATO headquarters in Belgium, and the West Point Military Academy—has been a go-to source for the media on public safety issues. During his time with ADT, Fiel has conducted more than 100 television, radio, newspaper, and magazine interviews as a public and school safety expert.…Read More

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

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