and YOU
Dr. Lesley Farmer
California State University Long Beach
lfarmer@csulb.edu
Your Parents’ World
What Do You Need to Know
and Do?



Be information literate: access,
evaluate, use
Be a lifelong learner: pursue
interests, read, generate
knowledge
Be socially responsible: uphold
democracy, be ethical, cooperate
Two Separate Worlds?
Physical
Digital
Connected Worlds
Physidigital
Who Wants
your
Student’s
Attention
What Are You Doing?











Social Producing
Learning Social Rules
Designing Profiles
Exploring Identity
Writing Blogs
Writing Software Codes
Sharing Producing Music
Discussion Interests
Social and Political Activism
Keeping Friends
Risk Assessment
What ELSE Are Your Friends Doing?












Seeking Validation
Competing Popularity
Venting
Showing Off
Embarrassing Self
Crowded Isolation
Damaging Reputation
Pulling Pranks
Getting Even
Threatening
Harassing
Bullying
Digital Reputation
Who are you?
Using technology
 Safely
 Responsibly
 Critically
 Productively
 Pro-actively
The Community needs to know. . .
Compliance Issues
AB 307 Chavez
Ethical Use and Internet Safety
 Teachers and Students
 Goals addressed in EETT Ed Tech Plan

S 1492
Social Networking, Chat Rooms, and
Cyberbullying
 Students Only

Compliance Issues
E-rate (telecom discounts) /
Children’s Internet Protection Act
(CIPA)

Acceptable Use Policy (AUP)

have and enforce
Filtering and monitoring
 Blocking sites

Acceptable Use Policy (AUP)
It’s a a legal, enforceable contract.
When did you last sign one?
Was it current to reflect the latest
technologies?
Is it signed annually by students AND STAFF?
Do you understand what you are signing?
How about your parents?
Best Practices: AUP
incorporating district philosophy with
other provisions
separate policies by user and age group
How do we best achieve this?
EDUCATION
Education Code 48901.5
Cellphones
(a) The governing board of each school district, or its
designee, may regulate the possession or use of any
electronic signaling device that operates through the
transmission or receipt of radio waves, including, but
not limited to, paging and signaling equipment, by
pupils of the school district while the pupils are on
campus, while attending school-sponsored activities,
or while under the supervision and control of school
district employees. (b) No pupil shall be prohibited
from possessing or using an electronic signaling
device that is determined by a licensed physician and
surgeon to be essential for the health of the pupil and
use of which is limited to purposes related to the
health of the pupil.
Issues

Sexting

Cyber Bullying
 Legal
Issues
 Consequences
 Response Plan
 Legal
Phishing
File Sharing
 “You are a winner!”
 Protect Information
 Permission
Issues
 Bystander Ethics
 Response Plan
 “It’s FREE!”
 Legal Issues
 Consequences
Better Issues

Field Trips
 Legal
Issues
 Consequences
 Response Plan
Savvy Students
 “You are a winner!”
 Protect Information
 Permission

Making a
Difference
 Legal
Issues
 Bystander Ethics
 Response Plan
Creators of Content
 “It’s FREE!”
 Legal Issues
 Consequences
Case Study

Dylan Mardis is a sophomore in high
school. He is depressed because he was
rejected by a potential love interest. While
chatting with his friend, Carly, via instant
messaging outside of school, he tells Carly
he is going to take a gun to school and kill
everyone he hates and then shoot himself.
Carly informs a school administrator.
Case Study Questions:

Is Dylan’s speech a “true threat”
unprotected under the First Amendment?
 Did
he intend to communicate his statements
to the alleged victims? Does it matter?
 Did he intend to carry out the threat? Does it
matter?
Is Dylan’s speech likely to cause
substantial disruption in the school?
 What actions should the school take?

The District’s Authority to Suspend
or Expel Students
Education Code section 48900(r)
 Grounds for suspension and expulsion
include:
“Engaged in an act of bullying, including
but not limited to, bullying committed by
means of an electronic act, as defined in
subdivisions (f) and (g) of Section 32261,
directed specifically toward a pupil or
school personnel.”

In the context of 48900, “bullying”
means…
Sexual harassment
 Hate violence
 Severe or pervasive intentional
harassment, threats or intimidation that is
disruptive, causes disorder, and invades
the rights of others by creating an
intimidating or hostile educational
environment


above statutes (Ed Code 48900.2, 48900.3 and 48900.4) pertain to
grades 4-12
Other grounds for
suspension/expulsion:
Threats to cause physical injury to another
person. 48900(a)
 Obscene acts and habitual profanity.
48900(i)

Jurisdiction: Educ. Code
48900(s)

A pupil shall not be suspended or expelled for any of the acts
enumerated in this section, unless that act is related to school
activity or school attendance occurring within a school under
the jurisdiction of the superintendent of the school district or
principal or occurring within any other school district. A pupil
may be suspended or expelled for acts that are enumerated in
this section and related to school activity or attendance that
occur at any time, including, but not limited to, any of the
following:
(1) While on school grounds.
(2) While going to or coming from school.
(3) During the lunch period whether on or off the campus.
(4) During, or while going to or coming from, a school
sponsored activity.
Jurisdiction

May the district suspend or expel students
for cyberbullying that takes place away
from school?
 Should
the district take such action?
Jurisdiction…

Don’t forget the First Amendment issues.
If there is not a close nexus between the
student’s speech and the school (i.e., a
reasonable likelihood of substantial
disruption), the First Amendment may
protect the student’s speech
Criminal Activity

Ca Penal Code section 653m:
 “Every
person who, with intent to annoy …
makes contact by means of an electronic
communication device with another and
addresses to … the person any threat to
inflict injury to the person … is guilty of a
misdemeanor.”
Criminal Activity…

Penal Code section 653.2 -- Misdemeanor:
 Intent
to place another person in reasonable fear for
his or her safety, or the safety of the other person's
immediate family
 By means of an electronic communication device …
and for the purpose of imminently causing that other
person unwanted physical contact, injury, or
harassment, by a third party,
 Electronically distributes, publishes, e-mails,
hyperlinks, or makes available for downloading,
personal identifying information, including, but not
limited to, a digital image of another person, or an
electronic message of a harassing nature about
another person, which would be likely to incite or
produce that unlawful action
Criminal Activity…

Do you have to report sexting as child
abuse?
 Penal
Code section 11165.1 defines “sexual
abuse,” including “sexual assault” and “sexual
exploitation”
 Consider the specific facts
 May want to obtain legal advice
Searches



Search must be justified at its inception. Must
have reasonable grounds that the search will
turn up evidence of a violation of law or school
rules. (New Jersey v. T.L.O., 469 U.S. 325
(1985).)
Requires objective and articulable facts; and
Search must be reasonably related in scope to
the circumstances which justified the search in
the first place
Searches


Suspected violation of one rule (e.g., use of cell
phone during class) does not support a search
to determine violation of other rules
It is not permissible to search one student’s cell
phone to determine if another student has
violated law or school rules (Klump v. Nazareth
Area School District, 425 F.Supp.2d 622 (E.D.
Pa. 2006))
Legal Obligation to Protect
Students’ Free Speech Rights
“Congress shall make no law … abridging
the freedom of speech.” (U.S. Constitution
amendment 1)
 Tinker: Student speech is protected,
unless the conduct would materially and
substantially interfere with the
requirements of appropriate discipline

Freedom of Speech

Education Code section 48907:
“Pupils of the public schools shall have the right to
exercise freedom of speech and of the press … except
that expression shall be prohibited which is obscene,
libelous, or slanderous. Also prohibited shall be
material that so incites pupils as to create a clear and
present danger of the commission of unlawful acts on
school premises or the violation of lawful school
regulations, or the substantial disruption of the orderly
operation of the school.”
What is NOT protected speech:
Obscenity
 Defamatory material:

Requires a good faith and objectively rational
determination that the speech contains a
false statement, or one that cannot be proved
to be true, likely to harm the reputation of
another or hold that person up to shame,
ridicule or humiliation.
What is NOT protected speech:

Incitement to violate the law or school
policy or substantially disrupt school
operations
 Speech
cannot be suppressed merely because it
presents controversial ideas and opponents of the
speech are likely to cause disruption
 Speech can be suppressed if it specifically calls for a
disturbance, or because the manner of expression is
so inflammatory as to provoke a disturbance
Not protected speech:

True threats:
 Test
is whether a reasonable person who is
the object of the statement would feel
threatened
 Example: Student told guidance counselor, “If
you don’t’ give me this schedule change, I’m
going to shoot you” (Lovell v. Poway Unified,
394 F.3d 367 (9th Cir. 1996))
Not protected speech:

Sexual harassment
 Must
be severe or pervasive such that it
interferes with a student’s academic
performance or creates an intimidating,
hostile or offensive educational environment
Not protected speech:

Harassment, threats or intimidation
 Educ.
Code 48900.4
Must be severe or pervasive; and
 Disruptive; and
 Invade the rights of either school personnel or
pupils by creating an intimidating or hostile
educational environment

Can they be disciplined?



Student barred from running for class secretary
because she posted a blog from home using
lewd language to criticize school officials
(Doninger v. Niehoff, 527 F.3d 41 (2d Cir. 2008))
A drawing that shows a pistol firing at a person’s
head with the caption, “Kill Mr. VanderMolen”
(Wisniewski v. Board of Education, 494 F.3d 34
(2d Cir. 2007))
A website suggesting the student’s teacher
should die, and asking for contributions to help
pay the hitman (J.S. v. Bethlehem Area School
District, 569 Pa. 638 (Pa. 2002))
Can they be disciplined?


A student’s “top 10” list regarding the Athletic
Director, including reference to the size of his
genitals (Killion v. Franklin Regional School
District, 136 F.Supp.2d 446 (W.D. Pa. 2001))
A student website that lists, “People I wish would
die” and instructs readers to kill someone -- with
the disclaimer that readers not “go out and kill
and blame it on the site.” (Mahaffey v. Aldrich,
236 F.Supp.2d 779 (E.D. Mich. 2002))
Can they be disciplined?


A student website referring to other students as
“losers” and describing one boy as being
sexually aroused by his mother (Coy v. Board of
Education, 205 F.Supp.2d 791 (N.D. Ohio
2002))
A student website containing mock obituaries of
his friends and asking viewers to vote on who
would “die” next for purposes of the mock
obituaries (Emmett v. Kent School District, 92
F.Supp.2d 1088 (W.D. Wa. 2000))
Responsible Use




Plagiarism
Cheating
Downloading illegally
Sharing files illegally
NO
Citizenship: Holistic Approach
Four Perspectives
• Legislative
• Community
•
•
Literacy
Technology
Critical Use Requires
Information Literacy
A ccess
E valuate
I ntegrate
O riginate
se
U
New Literacies
Technology
Literacy
 Information
Literacy
 Media Creativity
 Global Literacy
 Literacy with
Responsibility

Teen Internet Truisms










Wikipedia is king
Google is awesome
Want news? Go online
Social networking is good for homework
IM> email / Email is so yesterday – it’s for old people and teachers
If it’s not on the front page, it probably isn’t worthwhile anyway
“Good enough” is good enough
Free is good
Downloading is OK as long as you’re not selling it
I get scared sometimes, but I can take care of myself
What Are Some Alternatives?







Use subscription online databases (support
curriculum and high-quality)
Use sophisticated search strategies (such as
Boolean)
Look at means and context
Compare resources
Be persistent; go back and regroup
Focus on synthesis and your own voice:
transform
Different sense of time… plan ahead
Communities of Learning






Autonomous, sustained
group of people with
common values and
goals
Social and
academic/professional
development
Socialization, norms,
and openness
Collaborative learning
Individual and group
accountability
Distributed leadership
What Teachers and Librarians Can
Do
Go to where the students are
 Build community and social safety net
 Provide (and teach) tech tools
 Provide meaningful, authentic tasks
 Provide online tutorials – or links to them
 Provide online reference and link to other libraries
with online reference service
 Think web 2.0
 Use blogs, wikis, “e-readers”
 Sound out:
use podcasts/vidcasts

Co-Curricular Activities
Online clubs and literature circles
 Student publications online
 Video/Podcast/Web service club
 Special ed aides
 Peer tutoring and mentoring

Empower Youth Using Technology






Review books, media, Internet sites
Add content on community websites
Create products for the community:
photos, artwork, videos, displays, posters,
newsletters, web pages
Train others in technology use
Do service learning
Conduct oral and community history
Online Resources













http://cybercitizenship.ning.com
http:// www.onguardonline.gov
http:// GetNetWise.org
http://CommonSenseMedia.org
http://iKeepSafe.org - Parents
http://NetSmarts.org
http://WiredSafety.org
http://StaySafeOnline.org
http://letmeknow.girlscouts.org
http://pbskids.org/license/
http://www.medialit.org/
http://phoneybusiness.com/etiquette.html
http://www.plagiarism.org
…Because YOU
are the future!
School Learning Activities
Writing: directions, continuous stories, tet
commentary, peer review
 Dramatization
 Environment: visual inventory, field trips,
animal rights
 Art: original clip art, digital self-portraits,
ideal school, virtual museums

More School Activities
Health: ads, fotonovelas, tech healthcare,
assistive tech
 Career exploration: shadowing, role of
tech in careers, online volunteering
 Law: students’ rights, driving laws, CSI,
legal tech, voting trends
