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FLATHEADBEACON.COM NEWS JANUARY 15, 2014 | 7

Online Bullying a Growing Problem

READER

As use of electronic negatively afected.
face to face.”
POLL
The study, which surveyed a random
At Kalispell School District 5, strict
devices rises among sample of 4,441 youth between the ages of policies are in place to curb cyberbullying,
FLATHEADBEACON.COM
10 and 18 from a large school district in the and Parce regularly gives presentations
teens, malicious online
behavior pervades southern United States, identiied mean to educate students, parents and teachers
Will Bridge Scandal Hurt N.J. or hurtful comments and rumors spread about the problem, which in some cases
Gov. Chris Christie’s Chances school hallways
online as the most common form of cyber- has led to criminal charges, he said. Rais-
in 2016?
bullying.
ing awareness about the gravity of cyber-
Nationwide, suicides have been traced bullying will help make students aware of
By TRISTAN SCOTT of the Beacon
to bullying, underscoring the fragile self- the consequences of their actions.
esteem of teenagers and the damaging “They don’t teach you about this stuf

While some schools are embracing the consequences of mistreatment by peers.
in the police academy and they don’t teach
use of smart phones and other electronic “Usually students will target things you this stuf in the School Resource Oice
devices as learning tools in classrooms, that the individual can’t control — their academy. The only reason you are going to
the contemporary trend of students using looks, socioeconomic status, social rela- know about this is by being in the school,”
social media to harass and bully peers is a tionships, romantic relationships. That’s Parce said.
growing problem.
especially tough for these kids because In some cases, Parce has been in touch
68% YES 32% NO It’s known as “cyberbullying,” an im- their relationships are huge,” Parce said.
with Facebook to have a post or thread re-
precise label for online activities ranging Parce said the problem is compound- moved. He said the social media site has
TOTAL VOTES: 177
from reams of teasing text messages to ed when it occurs on sites like Facebook, cooperated with his requests.
sexually harassing group sites and other where students air out school drama or “Once it’s out there you can’t bring it
online public forums like Facebook and slander others in a thread that is then back. So what we’ve tried to do is get in
Have You Gotten a Flu Shot, or Twitter, said Jason Parce, the School Re- “liked” and commented on.
touch with Facebook and get a quicker re-
source Oicer at Glacier High School.
“They feel like they’re being bullied by sponse. Usually they will remove it with-
Do You Plan To?
The days when “bullying” could be the whole school,” he said. “We are notic- in 24 hours. That’s pretty powerful when
equated to stolen milk money are of a by- ing that one single Facebook comment can Facebook is willing to cooperate with us,”

gone era, and schools these days are con- disrupt the educational environment to he said.
fronted with complex questions on wheth- the point that kids can’t even go into class. A negative Facebook comment can be
er and how to deal with cyberbullying, ac- They’re missing school and falling behind. ignored, or students can counter-com-
cording to Parce, who in his ive years at Their grades sufer. Their attendance suf- ment to delect the original poster’s mali-
Glacier has seen the phenomenon explode fers. What kids need to realize is that once cious intent.
as mobile devices become increasingly they put that out on Facebook, everybody But the best remedy for cyberbullying
ubiquitous among teenagers.
sees that comment.”
is for peers to stand up for one another.
42% YES 58% NO A 2010 study by the Cyberbullying Re- He added, “It’s almost as if kids just “A lot of the cyberbullying is stopped by

TOTAL VOTES: 144
search Center, an organization founded by don’t have any qualms about harming the general student populations” he said.
two criminologists who deined bullying others when there’s no face-to-face inter- “They will make counter-comments and
as “willful and repeated harm” inlicted action. That’s one thing I’ve seen change those get liked, and then nobody is feeding
Should Long-Term through phones and computers, said one in the ive years since I’ve been here. It’s on it and liking the original comment.”
Unemployment Beneits in ive middle-school students have been
much harder to say these negative things
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be Extended?

and laid out the beneits and safeguards. After receiving parent approval, stu- Although Barron acknowledged the
“There’s no texting, no phone calls. It dents in certain classes can now bring threat of cyberbullying does exist more
is strictly for educational purposes within devices to school on BYOD days, but they and more in today’s cellphone society, she
that designated class period,” Barron said. must follow close guidelines, otherwise hopes that students at Evergreen are re-
The board approved the initiative, and they will lose their privileges. As a result, alizing the beneits that devices can have
parents were notiied and asked whether Barron has seen few problems arise.
academically, and that those ideals are ex-
44YES 56NO they wanted their students to be involved “What we’ve seen is that they are afraid tending beyond the classroom.
% %
TOTAL VOTES: 163
in the program. Students without a device of losing their privileges, so we are not “While teaching some appropriate
can use one of the school’s, and Evergreen having discipline problems,” Barron said. use, we hope that’s transporting to home
has started accepting old devices from res- “They are terriied because we told them if and that kids become more responsible
idents who can receive a tax deduction by
they play with it at lunch or text friends in with their devices,” she said.
ONLINE POLL RESULTS ARE NOT SCIENTIFIC
donating them for students.
the hall, they lose their privilege.”
[email protected]