Social Networking Websites: The Dilemma for School Leaders

Last week, I went to my local public library in Raleigh, North Carolina to return some library books and noticed something acutely strange.  The library's computer terminals were sparsely populated.  At first, I assumed the network was down, but found out internet connectivity was working well.  I soon found out that the Wake County Public Library had implemented a new policy blocking the popular social networking website, MySpace.com from the library's computers.  Have any of you implemented a similar policy in your school?

Public libraries, especially in the after-school hours during the weekday have increasingly become popular hang-outs for our young people.  Clearly, the fact that many young people are going to libraries is not a bad thing, per se.  However, many young people are going to the libraries after school solely to access the Internet without parental or some other adult supervision.

Many school districts across the country are now blocking access to social networking sites in an attempt to curtail cyberbullying. School leaders are also using district anti-bullying and anti-harassement policies to take disciplinary action against students, including suspension and expulsion.  However, school district officials are confused about what kinds of actions they can take to curtail students’ online speech without running afoul of students’ First Amendment rights.

Rarely has a single issue so galvanized students, school district administrators, legislators, and the courts, as the new “buzz” over social networking Web sites. In the recent past, if students wanted to air their views in cyberspace, they needed a credit card and the know-how to create their own Web sites. Now, with the free, easy availability of chat rooms and sites like MySpace, Facebook, Xanga, as well as a host of others; students can create online profiles, upload photographs, critique aspects of their everyday lives, and . . . yes, lampoon, satirize, insult, or even impersonate other students, teachers, or school administrators.

The popularity of the social networking website, MySpace.com is unquestioned. MySpace.com was created in 2003 and in that short time has become the most visited social networking website, surpassing other social networking websites, including Friendster.com, Tribe.net, Xanga.com, and Meetup.com. 

However, widespread student use of enhanced technological communication has a dark side, too. Students are using technology tools to bully and harass other students, giving rise to a new word in the bullying lexicon, “cyberbullying.” Called the “newest breed of bully,”a cyberbully can reach victims at a distance, anonymously, persistently, and in the click of a mouse. With 52% of 12-14 year-olds spending one hour per day or longer using the Internet on computers, and with that number rising to 67% in surveys of 15-17 year-olds, students have availability and access that makes cyberbullying possible. Over 20% of 12-14 year-olds report using cell phones more than one hour a day, and that percentage rises to 37% among 15-17 year-olds. Even among children ages 6-11 years, 25% of them are on the Internet more than one hour a day. A small percentage also report using cell phones regularly.  Today’s cell phones can be used to text message or to take and send images; some newer models also access the Internet. Unfortunately, over half of teen and pre-teen Internet and cell phone users report that they have encountered mean, threatening, or embarrassing things said about them via these electronic communication tools at least once or twice in the past year. And 10-19% have received such messages more than five times in the past year.

Many school districts are now blocking access to social networking sites in an attempt to curtail cyberbullying. Administrators are also using district anti-bullying and anti-harassement policies to take disciplinary action against students, including suspension and expulsion.  However, school district officials are confused about what kinds of actions they can take to curtail students’ online speech without running afoul of students’ First Amendment rights.

Despite the legal limbo of cyberbullying and the absence of court precedents regulating off-campus speech aimed at students over the Internet, we have developed some recommendations and suggestions for school leaders to consider. They include the following:

1. School officials need to reevaluate their Internet-use management policies to include handling instances of handling student-to-student online cruelty.
2. Preliminary evidence indicates that cyberbullying is extremely underreported. As a result, local school officials need to create a climate where young people know that reports and instances of cyberbullying will be taken seriously and reacted to quickly.
3. School officials can be proactive in contacting the parents or legal guardians of students suspected of initiating cyberbullying-related activities.
4. Schools can play a significant role in educating the local community concerning the potential dangers of cyberbullying through professionally organized workshops on ways to effectively monitor young people’s online activities.
5. In Fall 2006, MySpace.com released guidelines for local school officials requesting them to contact them regarding false or offensive MySpace user profiles or the reporting of threats or cyberbullying. Additionally, MySpace.com created both a phone hotline and email address exclusively for local school officials to contact them.  People need to take advantage of these services.  The cyberbullying of students is highly underreported.

One of the biggest problems, espeically for school leaders is the rapid pace of technological advance; many parents and educators cannot access technology as expertly as their children or students. However, each parent and each educator must take seriously the responsibility to monitor children’s use of technology, in school and at home.

I look forward to your thoughts and comments on the issue of social networking websites and their use by students.

Best regards,

Kevin

Comments

[Jan Borelli]

That was extremely well written and so thought provoking.... and kind of scarey, too.

[Scott McLeod]

Kevin, great post! The challenge is Step 1. What does it mean for a school to "handle" instances of cyberbullying? To most school officials, it means formal school discipline (e.g., suspension, expulsion, other punishment). Much to administrators' dismay, however, courts have looked askance at schools overreaching into students' private lives and free speech rights. All but one of the decided court cases on student-to-student or student-to-employee cyberharassment has gone against the school district that tried to punish the offending student. In addition to the decided cases, we have multiple instances where the case never made it to court but the student received a large settlement from the district. So... I think there is a place for schools to contact parents and to notify victims about their private lawsuit rights, but unless school officials can prove a 'material and substantial disruption' to the school environment, administrators are going to lose in court (and have already been losing repeatedly, despite some fairly egregious conduct by students that administrators have tried to argue was materially and substantially disruptive).

The podcast of my TIES presentation on cyberbullying is available here (if anyone's interested):

http://www.scottmcleod.net/podcasts

The podcast includes detailed descriptions of the cases to date. Also, the upcoming Supreme Court decision in Morse v. Frederick may shed some additional light on schools' ability to regulate students' off-campus speech:

http://snipurl.com/1cnna

[Peter Rock]

"Many school districts are now blocking access to social networking sites in an attempt to curtail cyberbullying."

i.e. Throwing the baby out with the bath water.

The constructive school response to cyberbullying is communication. If a student wishes to threaten another student, I don't see how blocking access to certain sites on campus is going to deter that. If I want to pick on A and you block site X, I'll use Y. And if you block Y, I'll use Z. And if you block the Internet as a whole, I'll write an anonymous note and stick it where X will find it.

The best approach is for teachers to discuss this issue with students. It really is that simple. You create emotional safety through love, understanding, and communication - not enforcement of guilty-until-proven-innocent Internet-usage policies.

Cyberbullying through social networking sites should be seen as an opportunity to teach. Do those who call for the banning of such sites (and yes, this includes YouTube-like sites) really believe they are protecting students?

If so, please explain your reasoning.

[Jan Borelli]

Thanks, Scott for providing the research and current law/practice. I am beginning to consider this blog to be one of the most important parts of my daily professional development.

[Barbara]

Thanks for a good post that raises the issue and suggests some directions.

Coming from the private sector allows us some leeway in dealing with cyberbullying but fundamentally I have to agree that first and foremost it is our responsibility to educate the students about responsible and ethical use of technology. As Peter said blocking a site does not prevent bullying. Bullying has and always will be a childhood issue that educators must confront.

I like the steps listed they are proactive. We have already revised are AUP and we have also empowered the parents by providing them with specific directions on dealing with their own children's MySpace accounts if they contain false or offensive materials.

One factor that is only alluded to here is the need for all of us (administrators) to be up to speed on technology. Our students know I am "techie" and they know I visit MySpace. An ounce of prevention.... I am still amazed how many people- ( from grade schoolers to 20 somethings) still think their writing a "private" journal. I think digital literacy is key to this issue.

[Jane Perzyk]

Our students may think they are "whizzes" at technology, but in my experience, they are limited in their understanding of search skills, ability to evaluate the credibility of websites, and in addition, prefer the copy/paste method of gathering and reporting information rather than collecting, analyzing, and synthesizing content found through web searches. Also included in this list of shortcomings, as Barb alluded to, is the cavalier way in which many denizens of MySpace and other social networking sites publish pictures and personal information which could be damaging in the future. Steve Dembo, in his presentation, "The New Permanent Record," at the Connecting and Collaborating Conference in Holland, MI, last May, warned that college admissions representatives and corporate recruiters look at these sites and in some cases have rejected applicants because of objectionable content. (See http://www.teach42.com/2006/05/12/audio-from-the-new-permanent-record/). It's kind of like that spur of the moment tattoo that seemed like such a good idea at the time!