A click of the “send” or “share” button could cause a bundle of trouble for anyone who thinks there are
no consequences to what’s posted in the cyber world.
For students, it could cause suspension or a stint in juvenile detention.
Bowling Green School District wants to educate parents – as well as students — on what’s acceptable
behavior when texting or using Facebook, Twitter or MySpace.
The district has invited Rick Mann, primary state legal counsel for the Ohio Association of Secondary
School Administrators, to speak to parents and students about “Think Before You Click.”
His presentation to parents will start Thursday at 7 p.m. in the district’s Performing Arts Center. It
also is open to the public.
Mann will meet with middle school and high school teachers Thursday afternoon, and with students on
Friday.
His presentation is expected to cover the unintended consequences about cyber usage, including school
suspension, teen suicides, civil liability, sex offender arrest, reduced job eligibility and college
acceptance.
He also will touch on privacy when social networking and the personal dangers involved in cyber cheating,
cyber bullying, sexting and sextortion.
There is “an awful lot” of communication that may or may not take place around the school, but “it can
manifest itself into a situation at school,” stated Gary Keller, assistant principal at Bowling Green’s
middle school.
“It’s not news that a very large share of those kinds of things that lead to what’s perceived as
bullying, initiate with Internet, e-mails, Facebook, those kinds of things … a young person finds so
attractive these days,” Keller added.
The program also will give parents information designed to help them with practical responses to these
issues.
“I think there’s a greater sensitivity” toward unacceptable behavior, said BGHS Principal Jeff Dever. “As
long as there’s been schools and kids, there’s been this type of behavior.”
But the sophistication level, specifically of bullying, has increased with the introduction of
electronics and social media, including texting and Facebook, where users can post something they
wouldn’t say in person, Dever explained.
“It’s stuff that emanates outside the school, but comes into school.”
Mann is providing the training as part of the district’s new Olweus Bullying Prevention Program, funded
in part through a Wood County Educational Service Center grant.
Student handbooks for both the middle school and high school make it clear what is considered bullying,
whether written, verbal, electronic or physical actions.
Dever said a survey last year of students showed the high school was below national and state averages
for bullying. “But the problem does exist in our school and every school in the United States.”
He added that any threat of harm made from one student to another — even electronically — is reported to
the police. Otherwise, incidents are handled by school personnel.
“If it’s a threat, it’s a crime … and I will report that,” he stated.
On Tuesday, just one week in to the school year, Bowling Green Police was called to the high school to
handle an incident where a student used Facebook to threaten another student. The report was forwarded
to the city’s juvenile prosecutor’s office.
Dever touted Mann as a leading authority in Ohio on cyber bullying.
“I just encourage parents to come. He really knows the business,” he stated.
Mann, of Westerville, is a 30-year member of the National Education Law Association and a past educator
and coach. His own history as a parent and teacher, and later as legal counsel to school administrators,
has made him passionate about the safety of students. His presentation also will emphasize how students
can avoid becoming perpetrators or victims of exploitation in the cyber world.