Hector Molina Presentation from the SLI '10

1. Presented by:
Hector Molina

2. 2

3. 3
 74% of total population (251.7 million) are internet
users
 87% of youth, aged 12 to 17, are regularly online
 61% of youth, aged 13 to 17, have a personal
profile on a social networking site
 53% of teens enter chat rooms
 85% of teens use Instant Messaging
 Approximately 4 out of 5 teens own a cell phone
 Nearly 50% of minors, aged 8 to 12, own a cell
phone

4. 4 CYBERBULLYING

5. 5
 Sending mean, hurtful or threatening
messages or images about another person
 Posting sensitive, private information about
another person
 Pretending to be someone else in order to
make that person look bad
 Intentionally excluding someone from an
online group

6. 6
 Flaming (bashing)
 Harassment
 Cyberstalking
 Denigration
 Impersonation
 Outing and Trickery
 Exclusion

7. 7
 54% (more than 13 million) of youth, aged 6 to
17, are or have been targets of cyberbullying
 Victims usually turn into bullies themselves
 Victims usually have thought of committing
suicide at least once
 Peaks in older grades
 Girls are the primary offenders and victims
 Used as a secondary playground to socialize

8. 8
 Victimization can occur 24/7
 There is no “safe place” to go to
 Messages and images can be distributed worldwide
and is often irretrievable
 Can solicit the involvement/participation of others
 Cyberbullies do not need to be “big and mean”
 Cyberbullies can be anonymous, making it difficult to
hold them responsible
 More difficult to prevent or discipline
 Long-term psychological harm may be greater

9. 9
 Low academic performance
 Loneliness
 Humiliation
 Insecurity; low self-esteem
 Emotional and social adjustment issues
 Fear of going to school
 Transfer to another school
 Extreme violent behavior, including murder and
suicide

10. 10
They don’t want to…
 Seem weak
 Draw more attention to themselves
 Let others know of their “failure” in school
 Lose online and cell phone privileges

11. 11
 Advise victim not to respond and to block the
sender, but save messages as evidence
 Report incident to law enforcement if it involves
threats of violence, extortion, obscene messages,
harassment, stalking or other unlawful acts and
contact victim’s parent/guardian
 Check if messages were sent through district’s
Internet system
 Inform Internet, e-mail or cell phone service provider
about the content (Handout)
 Provide counseling and/or other necessary mental
health services for victim and family

12. 12
 Informal sit-downs
 Parent conferences
 Behavior plans
 Prohibition from extracurricular activities
 Suspension/expulsion, or
 Civil/criminal penalties

13. 13
 Bullying generally – Unprovoked aggression,
often directed repeatedly toward another
individual or group of individuals
 EC 48900.2 – Sexual Harassment
 EC 48900.3 – Hate Violence
 EC 48900.4 – Harassment, Threats, and
Intimidation
 Creation of hostile or offensive environments

14. 14
 Schools may suspend or expel a student who engaged
in an act of bullying, including bullying committed by
means of an electronic act directed specifically toward a
pupil or school personnel [EC 48900(r)]
 Bullying means one or more acts by a pupil or group of
pupils as defined in EC 48900.2, 48900.3, or 48900.4
[EC 32261(f)]
 Electronic act means the transmission of a
communication, including a message, text, sound, or
image by means of an electronic device, including a
telephone, wireless telephone or other wireless
communication device, computer, or pager[EC 32261(g)]

15. 15
Amends the federal criminal code to impose
criminal penalties on anyone who transmits in
interstate or foreign commerce a communication
intended to coerce, intimidate, harass, or cause
substantial emotional distress to another person,
using electronic means to support severe,
repeated, and hostile behavior.
Chapter 41 of title 18, United States Code: Extortion and
Threats

16. 16
13-year-old Megan Meier established an online
relationship with a 16-year-old boy who suddenly
turned against her, writing things like, “I don’t
know if I want to be friends with you any longer
because I hear you’re not nice to your friends.”
Then followed with postings like, “Megan Meier
is a slut. Megan Meier is fat.” Megan ended up
committing suicide when he wrote to her saying
that “the world would be a better place without
her.” The boy was actually a couple of
adults, one of which was a 47-year-old neighbor
whose daughter was a former friend of Megan’s.

17. 17 SEXTING

18. 18
The act of sending
sexually explicit
messages, semi-nude or
nude photos via cell
phone cameras and
messaging features,
usually between young
people.

19. 19
 Starts as early as 4th grade, but occurs more
among teens and young adults
 20% of teens (13-19) and 33% of young adults
(20-26) had sent nude or semi-nude photographs
of themselves electronically
 39% of teens and 59% of young adults have sent
sexually explicit text messages
 38% of youth under 18 years of age have
received sexual images via text or email
 Girls are usually doing the posting and the
sending
 It is becoming the #1 disciplinary issue on middle
and high school campuses

20. 20
 Social networking – more friends
 Courtship…flirtation
 Gift for the significant other
 Peer pressure
 “Safe sex”
 No awkward physical or verbal interaction
 No sex
 No STD
 No unwanted pregnancy

21. 21
 Production/manufacturing = creating
 Distribution/dissemination = sending or
forwarding
 Possession = keeping
 Receiving is not an offence
 The longer it remains,
the more serious the offence

22. 22
 Lifetime of embarrassment, leading to
depression and/or suicide
 Potential target of blackmail and harassment
 Can be a “career killer”
 Expulsion
 Severe legal problems
5 to 20 years in prison (Federal)
 Up to 3 years in prison and $2,500 fine (State)
 Registered sex offender for a lifetime

23. 23
 Florida. 18-year-old boy was sentenced to 5 years
probation and required to register as a sex offender after
he sent a naked photo of his 16-year-old girlfriend, a photo
she had taken and sent him, to dozens of her friends and
family after an argument.
 Ohio. Two teenagers were charged with contributing to the
delinquency of a minor, a first-degree misdemeanor, for
sending or possessing nude photos on their cell phones of
two 15-year-old classmates.
 Vermont. An 18-year-old boy was sentenced up to 2 years
in prison but will serve 90 days after pleading guilty to
having directed two teenage girls to videotape or
photograph themselves performing sex acts and send him
the results.

24. 24 ISSUES IN THE SCHOOLS

25. 25
 Schools often must balance competing interests
(e.g. students’ free speech or right to privacy
versus administrators’ need to implement
education mission, control discipline, and provide
a safe school environment
 Schools have jurisdiction over acts that are
related to school activity or school attendance
while on or off campus
 The majority of cyber misconducts occur off
campus in students’ homes
 Laws have not caught up with the technology;
court decisions have been inconsistent

26. 26
 Students may keep highly personal information on
their cell phones, and can record their most
private thoughts and conversations.
 Minor students have Fourth Amendment
rights, and rights under the California
constitution’s privacy clause, but those rights are
diminished in a school setting.
 Courts look to balance the student’s expectation
of privacy against the school’s need to maintain
safety and order.
 The activities of students on the school campus or
at school sponsored events are considered
private and should not be disclosed or shared with
anyone but authorized persons. [FERPA; EC
49060]

27. 27
 Student searches must be reasonable…
 Was the action justified at its beginning?
 Was the extent of the search as conducted
reasonably related to the circumstances which
justified the search in the first place?
 Reasonable grounds must exist for suspecting
that the search will turn up evidence that the
student has violated or is violating either the
law or school policy.

28. 28
 Clear expectations
 Use of influence versus authority
 Appropriate and consistent response to
incidents
 Who is authorized to respond?
 What perception does the school/ district want
to create regarding responsibility for regulating
cyberspace activity?

29. 29
Because off-campus
student websites involve a
fundamental right and
because this area of law is
evolving, it is
recommended that districts
consult with counsel prior to
applying discipline and
when developing policy.

30. 30 EDUCATION

31. 31
 Make “real” friends
 Don’t post pictures or identifiable information on the
internet (i.e. full name, date of birth, address, school,
detailed description of self)
 Don’t share hobbies, habits and hangouts
 Don’t be too trusting…nothing is private, and not
everything is true
 Block and ignore hate messages, but save messages
as evidence
 Stop and think of the consequences
 Seek help

32. 32
Be involved in your children’s lives in and out of
school…
 Spend quality time with them
 Enrich their lives; take them places
 Model good habits/behaviors and ways to handle
difficult situations
 Build trust and open lines of communication
 Let them know how to reach you any time of the day
 Participate in school activities/events
 Know who their friends are in school and online
 Know what they are doing
 Know when they are not acting their normal self

33. 33
 Know the capabilities of all the technology that is
accessible to your children
 Set clear guidelines of computer and cell phone
usage and consequences for any violations
 Monitor and check the computer and cell phone
on a random but consistent basis with your child
present
 Google your child’s name once in a while
 Never allow your children to lock themselves in
their bedrooms alone for long periods of time
 Discuss the difference between private and public

34. 34
 District policy and school rules
 Enforcement of district policy and school rules
 Proper search and seizure policy and
procedures
 Appropriate response on and off campus
 Appropriate teacher-student communication
via cell phones, e-mails, social networking
sites, etc.

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36. 36
Hector J. Molina
530-681-0279
hector.molina@wjusd.org