By Kyle Feldscher
Four of the incidents dealt with violations of the district's Internet usage policy, including putting photos of the Virginia Tech University shooter as the background on a school computer, downloading programs onto school computers, using school computers to install software to work for money and hacking into computers to perform April Fool's pranks.
July 25, 2011 Ann Arbot. com
K-12 Education ReporterIn May, Ann Arbor public schools moved to cut off wireless access for students using smartphones and other devices, citing the potential for cyberbullying as one reason.
An AnnArbor.com review of school district documents obtained through the Freedom of Information Act shows officials are increasingly concerned with cyberbullying involving students — with some of the conflict spilling over from the Web into classrooms.
Sixteen incidents of cyberbullying or violations of the district's computer usage policy were reported in district schools in the 2010-11 school year, documents show. One video posted to YouTube was made in a school computer lab, records show.
Meanwhile, district officials have been attending conferences and training sessions to prepare themselves to handle cyberbullying.
District spokeswoman Liz Margolis said it wasn't immediately possible to compare the number of this school year's cyberbullying incidents with the previous year's, but she said it's likely the number increased due to greater awareness and reporting of the problem.
“I think that means there was a growing awareness with families,” Margolis said. “I know that schools had parents bring in copies of Facebook pages and that shows a greater awareness, but I’m not sure if it equates to higher numbers.”
Outside conflict spills onto school grounds
Many of the cyberbullying incidents began outside school grounds and led to incidents inside school buildings.
In April, a Pattengill Elementary School student posted a video on YouTube “that communicated how much he ‘hated’ another student,” documents show.
Students were able to view the video at school after an Internet filter, which is meant to block websites like YouTube and Facebook, was disabled.
Pattengill Principal Che Carter said he was notified of the video by one of the students mentioned in it.
During the ensuing 24 hours, he notified parents of the video’s existence, called the mother of the student who posted the video to have it taken down, notified staff members and his superiors of the video’s existence, and requested the student who posted the video be kept out of school to keep the situation from escalating.
A second video made by the student was recorded in the school's computer lab, which can be seen in the background, according to the incident report obtained by AnnArbor.com. That video was also posted to YouTube.
“I thought the quicker you jump on those kind of things … the easier it is to facilitate the forgiveness piece,” Carter said this month. “It doesn’t make them a bad kid, just means he doesn’t know how to express those feelings.”
The student was given a two-day out-of-school suspension after both videos were discovered.
“Where do you draw the line, I think anything that affects a child or a child’s well-being in school is concerning enough for me to investigate and look into,” Carter said.
After the incident at Pattengill, Carter held an assembly for the fifth-grade class to discuss cyberbullying and how to appropriately use technology. He also sent information home to parents with advice on how to monitor their children on the Internet, including a cyberbullying reference guide.
Students and parents at Pattengill signed anti-bullying contracts during the school year and the school now has a “Bully Box” for students to give anonymous tips on bullying incidents. Carter said the “Bully Box” was empty from the incident in April until the end of the school year.
Cyberbullying at Ann Arbor high schools
District high schools dealt with the bulk of cyberbullying and computer policy violations documented last school year, a total of 14 incidents, records show.
On March 24, a female student at Skyline High School came to class and asked the teacher if she could sit as far away from another student as possible. The student then provided school officials with copies of harassing Facebook posts the second student had sent her.
The offending female student was later warned by school officials not to speak to the other student and to stay away from her. Instead, the offending student posted more comments on Facebook during class that referred to the other girl. The offending student was suspended for one day.
In February, two Skyline students were warned by school officials that any fighting resulting from their bickering on Facebook would result in suspensions. Another student was reprimanded after she took cell phone pictures of another student in class and posted them onTwitter with "inappropriate captions," documents show.
An argument in May at Skyline involving two students also stemmed from threats originally made on Facebook.
A forum at Eastern Michigan University in April featured a survey on cyberbullying compiled by Skyline students.
The Skyline junior class presented results that showed cyberbullying was more prevalent in the school than many thought, said Washtenaw County Commissioner Kristin Judge, D-Pittsfield Township, who helped organize the cyberbullying forum.
“It’s really an issue that goes through everything,” Judge said. “It doesn’t matter what school, if you’re white, black, poor or rich, it’s really a big issue right now.”
Skyline wasn’t the only Ann Arbor high school with cyberbullying incidents reported to school officials.
At Huron High School, school officials reprimanded students who made inappropriate comments to each other online.
One incident documented racist, homophobic and insulting comments that a student made to another over Xbox Live chat. The offending student was given a warning and counseling, had his class schedule changed and parents notified, and was forced to write apology letters.
Another Huron student threatened a fellow student that there would be a fight if the student ever talked to his girlfriend again and included weight-related insults, according to documents. Both students were warned and were forced to write apology letters to each other.
Sulura Jackson, principal at Skyline, and Arthur Williams, principal at Huron, were unable to be reached for comment for this story.
School employees work to educate themselves on cyberbullying
Documents also show how Ann Arbor schools officials are actively seeking information about how to prevent and address cyberbullying.
About half of the documents obtained by AnnArbor.com when asking for materials related to cyberbullying during the 2010-11 school year are employee communications on anti-bullying conferences.
About 13 administrators and principals responded to an email from district spokeswoman Liz Margolis announcing their intentions to attend a conference at the Washtenaw Intermediate School District in late April.
Monique Uzelac, director of instructional technology for AAPS, set up a Digital Citzenship and Internet Safety event for the district in early June, which reviewed laws “as they pertain to online behavior, harassment, bullying and sexting.”
Uzelac also communicated with district officials about conferences and events dealing with technology usage by students.
The Student Intervention and Support Services staff at the district also received several Internet news stories dealing with bullying and cyberbullying from Mary Spence, a school psychologist in the district.
Other districts across Washtenaw County are dealing with the same issues, according to the head of a local children's agency.
Jyoti Gupta, the executive director of the Washtenaw Area Council for Children, said she’s worked with school districts around the county on cyberbullying issues, including Ann Arbor,Milan Area Schools, Manchester Community Schools, Chelsea School District andWhitmore Lake Public Schools.
She said the council has worked with teachers, principals and counselors in Ann Arbor schools and their work has always been well-received.
“The district is very involved (in anti-cyberbullying measures),” she said. “We’re currently talking to other middle schools for programs in the next school year.”
Gupta said many school districts in Washtenaw County are concerned about bullying. She said the annual conference at EMU this spring had a large turnout and drew many principals and school counselors.
“They are taking a proactive stance,” she said. “They’re very concerned about bullying in the schools and we have principals, teachers and counselors calling us and talking to other resources as well.”
Much of the communication sent between district officials seemed aimed at educating school employees on the dangers of cyberbullying, with the intent that they bring that knowledge back to their schools.
Carter said that was his goal when dealing with Pattengill’s issues this spring — he wanted to not only bring peace to the school but also empower students to speak out against cyberbullying and teach them how to use technology properly.
He said it may take 3 to 5 years to truly change the culture of a school and stamp out bullying, but he said teaching students and parents their rights can help move the process along.
The best thing to come out of his experiences as principal this spring is that he knows there’s a class of Pattengill students who are moving on to middle school with a clear idea of what cyberbullying is, Carter said.
“The silver lining is my fifth-graders have a clear understanding of how to make an informed decision before using technology in an inappropriate way,” Carter said. “It’s one more thing on your list you need to constantly monitor.”
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