Administrator's guide to cyberbullying

My contribution to Stop Cyberbullying Day is going to be threefold. First, this quick quiz:

Online Poll Using WebSurveyor

Second, although my graphic design skills aren't the greatest, I made some badges that can be used by others as desired:

• Stop Cyberbullying images

Third, I created an online presentation that outlines the basic legal parameters for dealing with student or employee cyberbullying incidents:

• Administrator's Guide to Cyberbullying (23 minutes)

I made it quickly, so it's not as polished as it could be, but I hope that it's helpful for school administrators and other technology leaders across the country. The presentation goes into detail about the six cyberbullying cases that have resulted in a judicial decision, describes why five of those cases have gone against the school officials, and then outlines some other options that schools have for dealing with electronic bullying or harassment. [FYI, the presentation is a modified version of the longer presentation I gave on this topic last December. Comments or suggestions regarding the presentation are most welcome. I can revise and repost it easily.]

I'm looking forward to seeing other folks' contributions to Stop Cyberbullying Day and am hopeful that we'll see a significant flurry of activity on this topic today. Thanks, Andy, for this great idea.

Update: here's another case that went against the school.

Comments

[Scott McLeod]

1.

I ran across this page today (thanks, Vicki Davis!):

http://tinyurl.com/2qtcvx

I am of the strong opinion that whoever wrote this is incorrect. Any public school action, including putting something in an AUP, can give rise to a constitutional claim. The AUP is no different than any other activity in which a school might engage. I believe that it's significantly false to say that educators can transform cyberbullying issues from constitutional into contractual issues simply by inserting a provision into a school's AUP and believe there is case law to back up my opinion. Administrators rely on this web page at their peril.

Furthermore, the basic law of contracts implies equal bargaining power by both parties. AUPs clearly do not reflect such since the only alternative for kids to signing an AUP is not to use school computing equipment at all (which is a different legal/educational issue that I might blog on sometime). I think courts are going to be skeptical of this 'contractual' argument on this front too.

[Future Administrators of America Member]

2.

Long time reader, first time commenter. Thanks for the helpful presentation. It is a real eye opener. (I thought 3 of the 6 had a chance...oops!)

[Chris Craft]

3.

Dr. Scott,

Thanks for the helpful resources.

A suggestion, on the breeze presentation, slide 9 was confusing when you kept using the same wording "the student", I had to watch it a few times to realize which student you were talking about. Perhaps a clarification if you choose to re-record this for another presentation or anything.

Thanks so much!

Chris Craft

[Scott McLeod]

4.

Thanks for the feedback, Chris. I'll check it out.

[Mrs. Durff]

5.

The Cyberbullying audio needs to rated X. I was offended by the language I did not expect. I could never use this as a training audio.