Internet Safety

Internet safety is something that baffles me. I know that our board has a pilot program and a program about it. I am the IT and they are always offering the pilot programs to the Grade 7 and 8s. There is nothing specific for the grade 4s, but I try to make sure the students know that they should not be putting their names, addresses and phone numbers on anything without parental consent. We also have the community police officer come in and do a presentation on bullying and part of that presentation is about cyberbullying. It is very well done.

Our board believes, "We need to educate parents, children and the community about safety online." This is stated specifically in the following newspaper article and the article ends with a very important message reminding us that children must be taught about the dangers of the Internet: http://www.hwdsb.on.ca/media/news/details.aspx?id=242&Page=0&year=2006&profiling=2

What truly baffles me is the lack of parental involvement with respect to what the children are doing on the Internet. Parents are so protective and worried about the dangers of strangers outside that they are allowing their children to stay inside on the Internet and feel this is a safe place for them to be. Educating the parents about Internet safety and having them be accountable for their children, especially when they are very young, is our biggest challenge.