Horace Mann Students Cautioned About Dangers Online

Engaging with that random Xbox Live alias, posting a physical location on a Facebook status update, or worse, spreading text messaged rumors about another student to other classmates, can all have serious consequences for young students still becoming literate to an evolving hyper-connected world, Horace Mann middle school students learned Wednesday.


"You're behind this Wizard of Oz screen," Beverly Hills Police Department Community Relations Sgt. George DeMarois told seventh graders about cyberbullying and the flaws of communicating behind a screen.

"We're doing a disservice to you by allowing you to text versus speaking in person," he added, especially when it comes to interview for a job. "I'm sure your parents have gotten mad at you for a misinterpreted text."

The Beverly Hills Unified School District is implementing a proactive strategy to teach students about internet safety and to protect against cyberbullying. Each September the staff at each of the four BHUSD K-8 schools will engage students and parents to foster an awareness of internet safety, privacy and security, appropriate cyber etiquette, digital literacy, and cyberbullying topics, with the use of various assemblies, programs and grade-specific lesson plans.

Cyber Safety Week kicked off on Monday, Sept. 9.

"Create that positive image online," DeMarois said, noting that future employers check applicants' online histories during the hiring process. "Colleges and universities check now. That stuff on the Internet you've done doesn't go away. It follows you."

Horace Mann Principal Steve Kessler tells Patch they felt it was best to bring in someone from BHPD to break down the barriers of the negative aspects to having a digital footprint.

"I started here 38 years ago," Kessler said. "To me it's the scourge of the 21st century where the children are affected online off-campus, with far-reaching effects."

Kessler is referring to cyberbullying, a growing national trend in schools where students are subject to taunting, phishing and mistaken identities by classmates outside of school long after the day's end, only to have a profound negative bullying effect in school, whether it be online or by text messaging. Numerous media reports show students who've been endlessly digitally taunted will choose dire, and sometimes tragic, solutions to being cyberbullied.

Chris Hertz, BHUSD's director of student services and special projects, led a team of technology teachers, counselors, and librarians, to design the program and assisted school administrators and teachers to coordinate the week-long schedule of parent outreach events, student assemblies with speakers and themed lesson plans.

“I’m very proud of our entire teaching community from counselors, to administrators, to teachers, to technology teachers, to district leadership, for coordinating a week-long, formal program to help our children be safe and act responsibly online," Hertz said.

Jennifer Tedford, chief academic officer for BHUSD, presented the Board of Education with a themed assembly training program for high school students, presented by “Social Media Mania” and tentatively scheduled for Oct. 1.

Also this week El Rodeo School, Hawthorne School and Beverly Vista School held cyber safety-themed programming. A parent's assembly was hosted Thursday night at El Rodeo School.

For more resources on cyber safety and digital literacy, read these links provided by BHUSD.