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Schools

First Plymouth-Canton Cyberparenting Forum Targets Bullies

School district officials say online disputes are escalating rapidly.

Remember those fights in the schoolyard? Today, they’re much more likely to start on a computer screen, according to police and school officials at a forum.

About 40 parents attended the meeting, the first in a series of district joint programs with libraries and police departments in Plymouth and Canton.

The take-away message from the meeting was this: Parents, trust your teens, but don’t let it stop you from checking into their online activities.

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Nine out of 10 disputes among Plymouth-Canton Community Schools' high school students start online according to district and police officials who attended the

The forum, which also included four high school students, discussed the problems and pitfalls of online social networks. Topics included the typical high school misbehavior, though focused in the online arena – how fights start between students, bullying problems and keeping secrets from parents.

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“I would say an average of two to three students a day come into my office and complain about being bullied online,” said Canton Police Officer Sara Boritzki, who is assigned to the schools. “Sure enough, we pull up their Facebook page, and it’s all on there, with one teen calling the other a slut, or saying they’re going to fight.”

Online social networks such as Twitter and Facebook allow anyone with web access to email, chat and post unlimited messages to each other. Smart phones have accelerated the pace of online chats; just a few years ago, a student needed a computer with Internet access to chat online.

Frank Ruggirello Jr., the school district's community relations director, said there have been more problems with online student disputes than any year before, and it grows worse each year. “It used to be, you’d have two kids having an issue with each other. Now, they go online with it and it multiplies, and their friends get into it,” he said.

Taunts or threats, once online, can land a teen in court because written threats can be prosecuted.

At the beginning of this school year, student handbooks included a new warning: District have the responsibility to alert authorities to potentially dangerous online posting, even if a student is using a home computer.

Ruggirello said one student who did poorly on a test this year, and later posted a Facebook note saying he should bring a gun to school. The boy was joking but someone who read the post alerted authorities.

“We were able to determine that the student had absolutely no intention of doing it," Rugirello said, "but this student, who was accepted to one of the nation’s top colleges, now saw their college life in jeopardy because of one comment online."

The students at the forum were candid about problems that evolve online, and agreed with the 90% figure. The two main problems on social networks, they said, were online misunderstandings that led to arguments and the practice of removing friends from an account, which on Facebook is called "un-friending."

“A lot of kids misread things, and then everyone’s all in a fight because of what’s on Facebook,” said Valen Yangouyian, a sophomore from Plymouth High.

Hiding online account is common. During Wednesday's forum, the teens on the panel and some of the parents in the audience said they knew cases where a child kept two Facebook accounts: one for their parents to see and one they use to chat with friends.

The teens on the panel, including senior John Bonello, junior Nicole Mott, junior, both of Salem High, said their parents either restrict or monitor Internet use and hold them responsible for their online behavior.

A few parents at the forum said they would welcome learning about technology as well how to either filter or monitor teen online use, to reduce cyberbullying as well as other risky uses.

Karen Rachwal of Plymouth has two children in the district and said she doesn’t think that teenagers understand the impact of posting inappropriate material online. “I don’t know how to educate a 12-year-old to the realities of a 30-year-old,” she said, referring to the Internet’s lack of a content rating system.

Interestingly, the students themselves had an answer that seemed to resonate past any age of technology.

“It’s just like getting a car when you’re 16,” said Salem High senior Preston Arquette. “The majority of kids will try to use it responsibly, but there will be some that won’t. Most kids just want to use it to communicate with friends.”

School district officials said they will continue working with police and library official to create more educational forums. More resources for protecting children from online dangers are available online through the Cyberbullying Research Center.

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