A look at the thorny practical and legal issues involved for schools
As the father of three 8-year-olds and possessor of typically mixed childhood memories, few matters concern me more than bullying, in general, and cyberbullying, in particular. The New York Times this weekend has a thorough and thoroughly disconcerting roundup of current thinking on the latter that should be read by anyone of similar mind.
From that story:
Affronted by cyberspace’s escalation of adolescent viciousness, many parents are looking to schools for justice, protection, even revenge. But many educators feel unprepared or unwilling to be prosecutors and judges.
Often, school district discipline codes say little about educators’ authority over student cellphones, home computers and off-campus speech. Reluctant to assert an authority they are not sure they have, educators can appear indifferent to parents frantic with worry, alarmed by recent adolescent suicides linked to bullying.
Whether resolving such conflicts should be the responsibility of the family, the police or the schools remains an open question, evolving along with definitions of cyberbullying itself.
Nonetheless, administrators who decide they should help their cornered students often face daunting pragmatic and legal constraints.
“I have parents who thank me for getting involved,” said Mike Rafferty, the middle school principal in Old Saybrook, Conn., “and parents who say, ‘It didn’t happen on school property, stay out of my life.’ “
While the issues are thorny and reasonable people will disagree, count me among those parents who will welcome all the help they can get from the schools.
