[Infowarrior] - VA Law Directs Schools to Teach Cyber-Safety

[Richard Forno]

Law Directs Schools to Teach Cyber-Safety

By Rosalind S. Helderman
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, March 30, 2006; VA03
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/03/29/AR2006032900
705_pf.html

RICHMOND -- Virginia public schools will be required to teach students about
Internet safety under a law passed by the General Assembly and signed by
Gov. Timothy M. Kaine (D) this month.

The law, which takes effect July 1, is designed to ensure that tech-savvy
children understand the dangers lurking in cyberspace. The measure's
sponsor, Del. William H. Fralin Jr. (R-Roanoke), said he wrote the bill
after his oldest son turned 10 and started competing with his parents for
computer time.

"It raised a question in my mind," he said. "We teach our kids not to talk
to strangers. We teach our kids not to take candy. But in today's world on
the Internet, not only can you be talking to strangers without supervision,
but you can be talking to someone you think is not a stranger, but who is
one. There needs to be some sort of basic training on that."

The law directs the state Department of Education to issue guidelines to
schools for integrating Internet safety into their regular instruction.
Fralin said many children encounter dangers with computers at home, not
school, but since some parents are tech-phobic, schools need to step in.

"In some cases the parents are more technologically challenged than their
kids are," he said. "We've certainly sat down with my son and talked about
Internet safety. But to tell you the truth, I'd be more comfortable if
someone with more knowledge talked to him."

Many local schools are already teaching students about online safety,
sometimes in classrooms and sometimes more informally.

In Fairfax, all seventh-graders enrolled in family life education classes
get a course on Internet dangers, including a video and a fact sheet
designed for them to take home and share with their parents.

"We talk about having them trust their feelings," said Elizabeth T. Payne,
the county's health and physical education coordinator. "If you think
something's not right, get out, get off."

At T.C. Williams High School in Alexandria, where all students are issued a
school-owned laptop, students also get orientation lessons on the
appropriate use of those computers. That includes safety information -- and
warnings against visiting off-limits Web sites. Principal John Porter said
teachers follow up with spot-checks to see where children are surfing and
what they're posting.

"Sometimes [students] don't think someone's really looking, particularly
school folks," he said. "Certainly, with technology, you can't check
everybody all the time. . . . But, of course, word spreads quickly once we
do a check, and then they know we have people who know how to get to the
spots they know how to get to."

Teachers and principals agree part of their job is to educate parents so
they develop a better sense of what their children are doing online. Bull
Run Middle School in Prince William County holds daytime coffees and evening
seminars during school dances for parents to talk about the problem of
cyber-bullying. That's when children tease each other or pose as one another
in instant messages or chat rooms, sometimes spreading vicious gossip or
rumors.

Principal William Bixby said even though the bullying usually occurs after
school, arguments and hurt feelings can spill into the classroom.

School officials said children need more than one day of classroom
discussions to absorb the message. After all, many have already been told
that it is unwise to reveal personal information or talk to strangers
online.

"The trend with people in general, and maybe kids a little more, is to think
it won't happen to me," Porter said. "It's important for them to know that
not only might it, but it really does."

The new law, the school officials agreed, is an important step to formalize
what so far have been ad hoc conversations in many areas.

"Students have such ready access to computers," Payne said. "They need to
know how to protect themselves."

According to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, nearly
one in five children ages 10 to 17 have been sexually solicited online.

There have been many news reports about students posting personal and
potentially embarrassing information about themselves in online blogs and on
personal Web sites such as myspace.com. Such data can make children targets
for Internet predators searching for children to befriend. It can also
follow them as they age, creating problems when they apply to college and
for jobs.
© 2006 The Washington Post Company