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?

Internet Safety Presentations at the Sarah Greenwood School

The Sarah Greenwood School hosted OIIT for two afternoons of cybersafety lessons last week. Eric Esteves and Joe Kidd went out to the school to talk with students about cybersafety strategies and cyberbullying. They traveled to eight different classrooms and spoke with students in grades four, five, six, seven and eight. In grade four, the presentation focused around the BPS CyberSafety Heroes, while the upper grade presentations focused on cyberbullying. They were very impressed with the knowledge of the younger students about cybersafety and bullying issues. The older students were also receptive to talking about bullying and the effects that bystanders have on bullying situations. There has been a lot of focus on bullying lately, and one of the groups that trainers have been really trying to target are the bystanders. We want students to understand that bystanders have the power to stop bullying, and that they do not have to necessarily stand up to the bully publicly, but can walk away from the situation and not give the bully an audience. Bystanders can also call the the Boston Anti-bullying Hotline at 617.635.5050 to report a situation.

OIIT would like to thank the students and teachers at the Sarah Greenwood for hosting us last week and being so attentive.

A Few Articles...

BPS cybersafety expert, Eric Esteves, sent me a few interesting articles over the past couple of days. The first one is a new sexting bill that was signed into law by Governor Patrick a couple of weeks ago.

http://www.bostonherald.com/news/politics/view/20100413gov_patrick_signs_bill_to_outlaw_sexting_to_minors/

The new law closes a loophole in the state's obscenity law that caused a conviction to be overturned by the state's highest court. Apparently, the law only covered visual representations of sexually explicit material but now will include text messages, email and other electronic communication.

The next article covers the bullying youth summit in which students from TechBoston Academy took top honors for their video about cyberbullying. We will have a complete recap of the event with pictures of the students at a later date.

http://www.patriotledger.com/news/x457997430/Local-students-taking-a-byte-out-of-cyberbullying

The last article comes from the latest Sunday Globe Magazine and is entitled "The Secret to Stopping a Bully?". The premise of the article is that maybe the best way to stop bullying is to educate the bystanders or audience of the bullies themselves. The theory is that by getting the bystanders to walk away, or not pay attention to the bully, it will stop the bully. Bullies draw much of their satisfaction from the reaction they get from their peers. If there is no reaction, then there is no reason to bully. This would be a great discussion to have with your students. Is this even a possibility? What would schools need to do to train their students not to be bullying bystanders? How does cyberbullying play into this theory? There is the potential of having thousands of bystanders to bullying when it takes place online. How could you possibly reach all of those bystanders?

We would love to get your opinions and comments.

Massachusetts Lawmakers Approves Anti-Bullying Law

The Massachusetts legislature unanimously approved an anti-bullying law this afternoon. The bill will now go to Governor Deval Patrick's desk for review. The law would require all school employees to report instances of bullying and require principals to investigate them. You can read the Boston Globe article here.

Check Out the Facebook Safety Center

Ever wonder how you can report abusive behavior on Facebook? Are you a parent or a teacher who wants to learn some best practices of keeping your kids safe on the the popular social networking site? Well, go straight to the source and check out the recently overhauled Facebook safety center. Facebook wants to send the message to its users that they take the subject of online safety very seriously, and as such, have created an updated safety center with sections for parents, educators, teens and even law enforcement. So, if you are constantly tagged in embarrassing photos or you are being bullied online, go to the safety center to find out what you can do about it.

Now if they would only add some video tutorials or a safety orientation, like our BPS cybermentors suggested to Mayor Menino in February, then we would really be getting somewhere!

Common Sense Media Announces New Digital Citizenship Curriculum

Common Sense Media is a not-for-profit organization whose mission is to "improve the lives of kids and families by providing the trustworthy information, education, and independent voice they need to thrive in a world of media and technology." Their website includes age recommendations and reviews of televisions shows, movies, books, video games, websites and music. They also offer a parental advice section. Coming soon, they will offer a digital literacy and citizenship curriculum designed for 5th to 8th grade students. Based on Dr. Howard Gardner's research on digital ethics and the GoodPlay Project at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, the new curriculum will include five units, including:

• Digital Life. How the anytime-anywhere-everywhere nature of digital media requires responsible choices.
• Privacy and Digital Footprints. How to manage privacy online.
• Connected Culture. How to build respectful one-on-one, group, and community relationships online and protect against cyberbullying.
• Self-Expression and Reputation. Who we are in various online contexts and how to protect your reputation in the process.
• Respecting Creative Work. How to get credit for original creations and respect other’s creative property.

You can also preview the Privacy Unit by clicking here.