Teacher Training
2012-2013
**Being cruel to others by sending or posting harmful material
using technological means; an individual or group that uses
information and communication involving electronic technologies to
facilitate deliberate and repeated harassment or threat to an individual
group. (From Demystifying and Deescalating Cyber Bullying: Trolley,
Hanel and Shields, 2010)
JSD AS67 NEG Policy reads:
Cyber-bullying: sending insulting, threatening or
harassing messages by phone or computer,
or electronic messaging.
Also known as:
‘Electronic Bullying’ &
‘Online Social Cruelty’







E-mail
Cell phones
Pager text messages
Instant messaging
Defamatory personal web sites
Defamatory online personal polling web
sites
Chat rooms





Instant Messaging: MSN, YAHOO, ICQ-Real
time chat, web cam, photos
Cell Phones: camera phone with text
messaging
Interactive Games: bullying can occur while
playing online games-moderator can assist in
terminating the bullying
E-mail: not real time, forwarding hurtful emails
Websites: ”Dave Knight”






Dave Knight lived in the Toronto area
Was bullied at school
A site was created on yahoo to make fun of him
People added to it, insults, demeaning and
embarrassing comments
It took his parents 10 months before Yahoo
finally took the site down
Dave stopped going to school and began home
schooling to avoid the bullying




Profiles - personal info, pretend to be someone
else
Blogging - online diary, myspace.com
Discussion Boards/Newgroups/Guestbooksoften used to make fun of others, anyone can
add to it
Example: ratemyteachers.com
BULLYING
CYBERBULLYING

DIRECT

ANONYMOUS

Occurs on
school property

Occurs off
school property

Good relationships with
teachers
Fear retribution

Physical: Hitting, Punching &
Shoving
Verbal: Teasing, Name calling &
Gossip
Nonverbal: Use of gestures &
Exclusion
Fear loss of technology
privileges

Further under the radar than
bullying

Emotional reactions cannot be
determined


Poor relationships
with teachers
www.stopbullyingnow.hrsa.gov
{McKenna & Bargh, 2004; Ybarra & Mitchell, 2004}
“Inadvertent”



Role-play
Responding
May not realize it’s cyber
bullying
“Vengeful Angel”


Righting wrongs
Protecting themselves
“Mean Girls”





“Power-Hungry”


“Revenge of the Nerds”
or “Computer Savvy”
(“Subset of Power-Hungry”)


Bored; Entertainment
Ego based; promote own
social status
Often do in a group
Intimidate on and off line
Need others to bully; if
isolated, stop
Want reaction
Controlling with fear

Often Victims of school-yard
bullies
Throw ‘cyber-weight’ around
Not school-yard bullies like
Power-Hungry & Mean Girls
{Parry Aftab. Esq., Executive Director, WiredSafety.org}

“Flaming’: Online fights using electronic
messages with angry and vulgar language

“Harassment”: Repeatedly sending offensive,
rude, and insulting messages

“Cyber stalking”: Repeatedly sending messages
that include threats of harm or are highly
intimidating. Engaging in other on-line activities
that make a person afraid for his or her own safety

“Denigration”: ‘Dissing’ someone online. Sending
or posting cruel gossip or rumors about a person
to damage his or her reputation or friendships

“Impersonation”: Pretending to be someone else
and sending or posting material online that makes
that person look bad, gets that person in trouble or
danger, or damages that person’s reputation or
friendships

“Outing and Trickery”: Sharing someone’s
secret or embarrassing information online. Tricking
someone into revealing secrets or embarrassing
information which is then shared online

“Exclusion”: Intentionally excluding someone
from an on-line group, like a ‘buddy list’
{Nancy Willard, M.S., J.D., Director of the Center for Safe and
Responsible Internet Use}

Cyber bullying typically starts at about 9
years of age and usually ends after 14
years of age; after 14, it becomes cyber or
sexual harassment due to nature of acts
and age of actors {Aftab}

Affects 65-85% of kids in the core group
directly or indirectly through close friends
(Aftab)







Block sender’s e-mail cell phone number
Change e-mail or
Don’t reply to messages from cyberbullies
Tell an adult.
Don’t erase or delete messages
Inform your ISP
Call police if messages are threatening
Who May Be Involved:

School Counselor

Principal

Resource Officer

Police

Attorney (School or Private)

Superintendent

Internet Service Provider
School Limits:
Schools have policies against
bullying
Civil Law Limits:
Cyber bullying may also meet
standards for ‘institutional
torts’ (wrongdoings)
Defamation
Material that Constitutes an
Invasion of Privacy
(1st Amendment)
Intentional Infliction of
Emotional Distress
General (Willard, 2005)
Criminal Law Limits
The following kinds of speech can lead to arrest &
prosecution:

Making threats of violence to people or their
property

Engaging in coercion

Making obscene or harassing phone calls

Harassment or stalking

Hate or bias crimes

Creating or sending sexually explicit images
of teens

Sexual exploitation

Taking a photo of someone in place where
privacy expected
General (Willard, 2005)
‘Educator’s Guide To Cyber bullying:
Addressing the Harm of On-line Social Cruelty’
(Nancy Willard, 2005)
Law Enforcement should be contacted if
educator becomes aware of:
 Death threats or threats of other forms of violence
to a person or property

Excessive intimidation or extortion

Threats or intimidation that involve any form of
bias or discrimination

Any evidence of sexual exploitation
‘Offsite Internet Activities and Schools’
(Copyright 2005 Parry Aftab, Esq. All rights reserved)
Conflicting decisions in regard to school’s authority with respect to cases
under state and federal jurisdictions
School should seek legal consult often beyond regular school attorney
(e.g., a constitutional or cyber-free speech lawyer)






‘Within School Authority’ Guidelines:
Clear-cut threats
Clearly disruptive of school discipline
encouraged to visit website; student accesses or works on
website in school
School owned website or school-sponsored project website
Any proof of in-school impact (e.g., materials on grounds;
psychosocial, behavioral or academic impact on others)
Proof the student’s website or harassment has had impact on
staff
(e.g., quits, leave of absence, medical TX for emotional issues)otherwise seek outside legal recourse
What Everyone Needs to Know About
Cyber bullying’ (Aftab)
Education of Children:
 All actions have consequences
 Cyber bullying hurts
 They are just being used and manipulated by
cyber bully
 Cyber bully and accomplices often become the
target of cyber bullying themselves
 Care about others and stand up for what’s right
Comprehensive Plan (Willard, 2005)
Schools
 Policies concerning misuse of technology
 Evaluate how staff is and can more effectively monitor
Internet use
Parents
 Discuss cyber bullying
 Supervise and increase effective monitoring of Internet
use
Since more adults supervise, more children will hide
activities, strategies needed to change social norms
in these on-line works, empower the victim with
knowledge how to prevent & respond, & to
discourage bullies from engaging in such activities
Schools should:
 Focus on values of kindness and
respectful human relations
 Enhancement of empathic awareness
 Develop effective problem solving
skills
 Empowerment of bystanders
Specific Step Wise Plan:
1 Engage in participatory planning {Integrate into Safe Schools. District
Technology Awareness; Non-school Participants}
2 Conduct needs assessment {Assessment available at Center for Safe
& Responsible Internet Use}
3 Ensure that an effective anti--bullying program in place {core not
authoritarian values; predictive empathy; peer norms vs. bullying; peer
intervention skills, effective administrative responses}
4 Review policies & Procedures {Monitoring, report box, internet &
other technological pp}
5 Conduct Professional Development {key individual sophisticated in
the area; all administrators, librarians, counselors and technology
educators basic understanding; all other staff alerted to existence, how
to detect}
6 Provide Parent Education {prevention, detection & intervention
strategies; alert child to potential consequences of school discipline,
loss of family account, civil litigation, criminal prosecution}
7 Evaluate {prevention & intervention programs}
Intervention Strategies for Cyber bullying Directed at Student
1-Save the evidence
2-Conduct a threat assessment {if cyber bullying poses substantial
disruption, violence or suicide concerns; contact law enforcement if threats
of violence}
3-Assesss response options {direct school nexus may warrant school
disciplinary action; if off campus and not substantial threat, no disciplinary
action but help victim}
4-Identify the Perpetrators {technical assistance; assess validity of person’s
identity; offer technical assistance to parents}
5-Supprt the victim {even if no disciplinary action, offer support and
assistance to victim and parents; offer counseling mediation, technical
assistance; direct to community resources}
6-Provide guidance on how to remove the speech
7-Seek to use informal resolution strategies {contact perpetrator parents,
offer assistance, suggest legal consultation; offer counseling, mediation in
school; recognize the cyber bully is a hurt kid and try to help both victim
and perpetrator
Intervention Strategies for Cyber bullying Directed at Staff
1- Assess Type of Speech
2- Take action based on assessment




Tell all-it’s okay to tell personal secrets on the
internet
I have a free speech right
What happens online is just a game. It is not
real. So no one can get hurt
What happens online should stay online
The Truth:
YOU WILL BE HELD
ACCOUNTABLE









*Netsmartz (free)
*Adina’s Deck
*Cyberbullying
*Cyber Smart (free)
*Middle School Cyberbullying Curriculum (free)
*www.Cyberbullying.us activities (free)
*Digitalcitizenshiped.com—Microsoft (free)
*Olivia’s Letters
*IKeepSafe