Cyberbullying happened' What do you do now

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Cyber-bullying happened. What do you do now?

• Maureen Baron M.A. Ed. Tech.
• English Montreal School Board
• mbaron_at_emsb.qc.ca

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What is cyber-bullying?

• Cyber-bullying involves the use of information
  and communication technologies such as e-mail,
  cell phone and pager text messages, instant
  messaging, defamatory personal Web sites, and
  defamatory online personal polling Web sites, to
  support deliberate, repeated, and hostile
  behaviour by an individual or group, that is
  intended to harm others.
• (Bell Belsey, www.cyberbullying.ca )

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How is cyber-bullying the same as face to face
(f2f) bullying?

• It involves
• human relationships
• power
• control
• fear e.g. physical harm or social isolation
• victim feels worthless, weak or unwanted
• psychological pain
• humiliation
• Victims are afraid to disclose

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How is cyber-bullying different from face to face
(f2f) bullying?

• Technology is the vehicle
• 24 / 7 It is ANYTIME and ANYWHERE
• Bullies can hide behind anonymity
• Bullying communications can reach a huge audience
  at great speed
• The image is out there forever and keeps
  re-victimizing the person
• Zero empathy for the victim

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Vehicles for cyber-bullying

• Email
• IM MSN
• Social networking sites Facebook
• Bash boards
• Chat rooms
• Virtual learning environments school work sites
• Cel phones
• Camera phones
• On line and interactive games
• Blogs
• Wikis
• Bashing site Rate My School
• Internet polling Doodle
• Webcams
• Video hosting sites YouTube
• Game sites

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Direct cyber-bullying

• Direct attack to the victim via email, IM, blog
• Phishing email address or web site
• Text war leading to huge bills and denial of
  service
• Photoshop pictures sent or posted as real pics
• Use a stolen password to lock out the rightful
  owner and then hijack the account for nasty
  purposes
• Create a poll, survey or bash board to vote on
  who is hot, ugly, stupid, gay, sexy or a slut

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Direct cyber-bullying

• Gang up against a player in a game
• Send spam to overload an email account
  harassment
• Publicly ridicule someone on web sites, blogs, IM
• Pretend to be a friend, solicit secrets and
  publicize the secrets trickery
• Arrange to socially isolate or ignore someone
• Post happy slapping videos (videoing and sharing
  acts of bullying and assault via camera phone )
• Use of social networking sites or Craig's List to
  solicit people to help target the administrator

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Direct cyber-bullying

• Tease or taunt
• Impersonation create a Facebook page to publish
  fake information, rumours or stories
• Insult or dissing
• Threaten the victim or a member of the victim's
  family
• Outing
• Create and spread rumours (true or not)
• Post clips on YouTube out of context

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Secondary school, student to student
cyber-bullying examples

• Repeating what a person said, or commenting on
  what a person wore or did in school, leading to
  fear of being stalked
• Threats of violence to the student or the family
• Blackmail for sexual or monetary favours
• Impersonation of a person, teacher, school web
  site or organization phishing site
• I know where you live!
• Teens transmit pornographic pictures of
  themselves or their underage peers, from their
  cell phones.

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What Doesn't Work

• Telling the victim not to access the social
  networking sites or their email
• Social isolation from the peer group
• Can't drop off the grid - always on generation
• Denying technology access to the bully
• Will always find a way to access
• Can utilize accomplices or proxy sites

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When a parent says

• I don't tell you how to run your school, you
  don't tell me how to run my house!

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YES I CAN! said the principal

• When there is a nexus, convergence, meeting or
  intersection between the school and the behaviour
• Disruption of school environment
• Negatively impacts the learning environment
• Negatively impacts the mental or physical well
  being of others
• Education Act Duty of Care in loco parentis

Eric M. Roher, LLP, Toronto, Ontario
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What educators can do

• Investigate to see if the victim(s) of
  cyber-bullying need support from a professional.
• Be sure that your schools anti-bullying rules
  and policies include cyber-bullying.
• Investigate reports of cyber-bullying immediately
  even if the cyber-bullying occurs off-campus
• Notify parents of victims and parents of known or
  suspected cyber-bullies.
• Contact the police immediately if known or
  suspected cyber-bullying involves acts such as
• Threats of violence
• Extortion
• Obscene or harassing phone calls or text messages
  
• Harassment, stalking, or hate crimes
• Child pornography
• http//www.stopbullyingnow.hrsa.gov

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What schools must do

• Put cyber-bullying prevention in the curriculum
• Educate everyone about the consequences and
  ethics of cyber-bullying
• Address the content and not the technology
• Enforce clearly and publicly stated consequences
  of cyber-bullying up to and including the
  pressing of criminal charges
• Make the cyber bully accountable
• Rethink the effectiveness of zero tolerance,
  suspension, restitution, restoration of trust
• Include cyber-bullying in the school's code of
  behaviour

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Teach the students to

• Never share passwords or log-in information
  except with their teacher or a parent
• If harassed they should
• tell a trusted adult
• leave the harassment location
• never respond to harassing messages
• save the harassing messages for the ISP or school
• report it to the police if necessary
• Stop, block, save and tell
• Take a stand against bullying of all kinds
• Know and adhere to the Acceptable Use Policy
• http//www.bewebaware.ca/english/CyberBullying.asp
  x

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What do you do?

• You are the principal of a large high school and
  a cyberbullying event has happened. This morning
  you are met by an angry group at your office
  door. The victim's parents want someone punished.
  The victim is afraid to come to school. The
  teachers want the perpetrator out of the school
  to send a strong message to the student body. The
  alleged perpetrator and his/her parents are
  screaming that the victim is at fault. The
  alleged perpetrator is demanding that (s)he be
  vindicated. Someone called the local press and
  they have set up their cameras across the street
  from the front door of the school and are
  interviewing students before they step onto
  school property. The school board District
  Supervisor called you on your cel phone during
  your morning drive to school and told you to get
  to the bottom of this quickly and to try to
  minimize press exposure. It is only 735 a.m.