Resources for CyberSafety

The educational technology blog, Free Technology For Teachers, posted about Eleven Resources for Teaching & Learning Web Safety. Check out some of these sites for your classroom cyber safety lessons and pass them along to your student's parents!

Massachusetts Districts Considering Teacher Facebook Policies

Two very interesting, thought provoking articles this weekend in the Boston Globe and Herald about what some school districts are considering as social networking policy for their teachers. Recently, some teachers in New York have been terminated or face disciplinary measures for inappropriate relationships with students that included contact on social networking websites.

This is a great opportunity to ask your students what they think about this. Do they think that it is appropriate to be friends on Facebook with their teachers? Why or why not? Please comment!

Bullying Story on 20/20 and other Resources

This past Friday, ABC news magazine program 20/20 aired a story about bullying. While the title of the story was "Bullied to Death", they did mention that bullying (and cyberbullying) effect victims in non-lethal ways. One of the most staggering statistics that the segment mentions is that 160,000 children stay home from school each day out of fear from being bullied. Needless to say students who fear being bullied in school can easily fall behind in their studies. Another interesting part of the story was the interview they had with two students who identified themselves as former bullies. They talk to the students about the different reasons they bullied others. You can view the video online here.

Tech & Learning has released a free e-book entitled "Keeping Students Safe Online: What Works". The book covers some research on internet safety as well as tips for when students go online. Microsoft has also released a free internet safety e-book online. It is called "Own Your Space, Keep Your Stuff and Yourself Safe Online". It is actually a print book that was published a few years ago. This is a great resource to give to students and parents or to have as a part of your internet safety curriculum.

Safe Driving Law Takes Effect in Massachusetts

The new Safe Driving Law has taken effect and it is now illegal for anyone to read, write or send text messages while driving. State and local police are already handing out citations to drivers who are caught violating the new ban. Drivers can be expected to pay a $100 fine for their first offense. Fines can reach up to $500 for repeat offenders. 16 and 17 year-old drivers may also face a 60-day loss of license and mandatory driver training. All cellphone use while driving is illegal for 16 and 17 year-old drivers (except for emergency 911 calls). While older drivers are permitted to make calls on their cellphones while driving, police can give out $35 fines for improperly using a cellphone. These offenses include anything that might interfere with driving, such as not having at least one hand on the wheel. For more information on the Safe Driving legislation, please click on the link below.

Massachusetts Safe Driving Legislation

Verizon Grant Supports Effort to Raise Awareness About the AUP

The Boston Public School district will roll out the Everyone Needs to Know the AUP initiative in fall 2010, thanks to financial support from the Verizon Foundation. Verizon joins Microsoft, Boston Society of Information Managers and Bunker Hill Community College in supporting the five-year-old City of Boston's Cyber Safety Campaign.

Last spring, with the increase in cyber safety issues facing students and school districts, combined with the new Massachusetts' anti-bullying law now in place, the BPS Office of Instructional and Information Technology (OIIT) decided to use the opportunity to ratchet up the focus on the Acceptable Use Policy (AUP). OIIT's TechBoston unit director, Felicia Vargas, led the process to revise the Boston School district's Acceptable Use Policy for computer usage in the school district.

This past summer, OIIT's TechBoston unit hired 14 high school Cyber Safety Mentors and three college-age supervisors. The cyber mentors worked over an intensive seven-week period conducting over 60 internet safety presentations throughout the city of Boston. The mentors also developed podcasts and presentations about the district's new AUP.

Beginning in September, OIIT will be working to increase the visibility and understandability of the Acceptable Use Policy for all students. With Verizon's financial support, OIIT will hire several BPS graduates and will deploy these Verizon Cyber Mentors to conduct cyber safety presentations in BPS schools during the year. The Verizon Cyber Mentors will be paired with schools to help educate the entire community about internet safety.

The AUP materials that the Cyber Mentors developed this summer are now posted online where the teachers, parents, administrators and students can access them throughout the school year. Check out the lesson plans, glossaries, and cool podcasts developed for all grade levels at www.bpscybersafety.org/aup.html

For more information about this initiative, please contact Felicia Vargas, fvargas@techboston.org, or Eric Esteves, eesteves@techboston.org

Photo Caption: BPS Cyber Safety Mentors pose for a photo with Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley after briefing her on the cyber safety during a visit to her office on August 19, 2010.

The City of Boston Announces Anti-Bullying Contest Winners

Back in March, the City of Boston invited all school-age children to submit creative ways of addressing the bullying problem and incorporate one of two contest themes. Students in grades K-5 are reminded to "Be Kind Online", while students in grades 6-12 are urged to "Keep it Social".

With nearly 300 submissions, the citywide Anti-Bullying Contest was a wonderful success. Mayor Menino acknowledged some of the winners who were present at the BPS Tech Day held at Wentworth Institute of Technology on Saturday, June 5, 2010. All of the grand prize winners received a prize donated by Microsoft. The winning submissions can be seen online at http://www.bpscybersafety.org/contest.htm.

Grand Prize Winners:
K-5 Poster: Julia D. - Guild Elementary
K-5 Written: Adonis A. - Grew Elementary
K-5 Written: Cameron J. - Grew Elementary
6-12 Poster: Tucker G. - Boston Latin Academy
6-12 Video: Cindy S., John P., Edison D., Spencer B. - Madison Park TVHS

Honorable Mention:
Vivian L. - Boston Latin Academy
Hayleigh O. - Tynan Elementary
Wingyiu W. - Boston Latin Academy
Ming L. - Boston Latin Academy
Maryn S. - Boston Latin Academy
Sean & Annie C. - Perry School
Yara B. - Fifield Elementary
Quinn R. - Bates Elementary
Jazlynn S. - Bates Elementary
Jason D., Jordan D., Jason C., Jahkai Y. - Emerson Elementary
Jolanda C. - Fifield Elementary
Kaia W. - Fifield Elementary
Sabrini C. - Boston Latin Academy

Globe Article on New Anti-Bullying Law

Here is an interesting viewpoint from the Boston Globe about the new Massachusetts anti-bullying law. According to the principal featured in the story, the new anti-bullying law does not give principals any more authority in disciplining bullies than they had before the law was passed. In fact, students cannot be expelled for bullying according to this principal. The law calls for more training and compels teachers to report incidents of bullying. Principals or other administrators have to investigate those incidents. The feeling in this article is that since there is no money for the training and since administrators are not given the ability to expel bullies, the law will not do much to deter bullying in and out of schools.

What do you think?