Reader comments
Law doesn't help teachers in dealing with cyberbullies

Me | 5:58 a.m. June 15, 2008

Simple fix, NO CELLPHONES IN SCHOOL. The parents who need to "get in contact with their kids" need to go back to calling the secretary.
Secondly, parents need to take responsibility for their children.

We have a corrupt Judicial | 6:37 a.m. June 15, 2008

System that is more deadly to the public
We get to much information down the pipe
We can not get any information up the pipe
Try the Deseret News

No More Laws Needed | 7:31 a.m. June 15, 2008

We have laws that deal with harassment. Schools have policies regarding cellphones and other electronic devices (and can create and enforce them, when necessary). Sounds sufficient.

Comments continue below

Samantha | 8:35 a.m. June 15, 2008

cyberbullies extend far beyond just school. the problem extends to 24/7 - so the emotional trauma suffered by the victim doesn't go away just because cell phones might not be allowed in school. i had to change my daughters cell phone number because of cyberbullies. the $15.00 fee was well worth the elimination of the foul languaged juveniles! no more random attacking accusations from unstable jealous angry teenagers!

Anonymous | 8:42 a.m. June 15, 2008

Yes, we have laws dealing with harrassment. So if your child puts mean, slanderous lies about my child up on youtube or facebook or sends them via instant message, you want me to call the cops and press charges? Or call a lawyer and sue you?

Without a specific law to treat juvenile offenders differently, to give prosecutors and judges and schools the right to remove cyberbullies from extra-curricular activities, or put them in detention, or force them into anger-management or anti-bullying classes, then when your child attacks mine, I will call you and give you one chance to stop it totally, 100%, and then I call the cops and press charges or talk to a lawyer about slander.

I monitor everything my child does on the internet so I know she's not a cyberbully. I won't let her be victimized by other children whose parents are too lazy or selfish to do the same.

To Me and No More Laws Needed: | 8:47 a.m. June 15, 2008

I agree with "No Cell Phones" in schools and that parents need to be more involved, but I hardly think that is going to stop a student from finding access to a computer and posting stuff about other students or adults. What needs to happen here is an expansion of libel laws and an increase of lawsuits and monetary judgment against those who commit libel on the internet. Once you have an epidemic of lawsuits against students and their parents over libelous comments, you will have greater care taken by parents to monitor their child more closely.

orion | 9:14 a.m. June 15, 2008

Administrators cut and run when vocal and wealthy big-name parents come to the school expecting their child to be the exception to school guidelines. I have seen it time after time in the high school.

The consequences for their children are quickly thrown out the window for fear of lawsuits, newspaper articles, and donations to athletic programs.

Their kids are just a little more equal than someone with the name of say....Gonzales.

At our school | 9:40 a.m. June 15, 2008

which is an elementary, kids have to give their cell phones to their teacher at the beginning of the day and they are locked in the teacher's closet. At the end of the day they are given back. Parents have been informed that if they need to contact their children to call the office, period. If a student is found with the cell phone it is taken, given to the principal and the parent is called and must come in with the student to meet with the principal. This may seem radical at the elementary level but it this has been happening even at that level. The policy works.

Re: Me | 9:52 a.m. June 15, 2008

That sounds simple, to make a rule, "NO CELLPHONES IN SCHOOL", but then how do teachers and administrators enforce this rule. Do we have students empty their pockets and backpacks or do strip searches. Maybe we can have airline baggage equipment in the front of the only entrance and exit in the school? Sounds a lot like a prison.

Kids can text and send pictures from their pockets, without looking, and take pictures of other kids in the locker room within seconds and send it to their email just as fast - all while the teachers shouldn't be watching them. If the last scenario sounds real scary, It is - both real and scary. This has happened. The interesting thing is the teacher was the one held accountable.

The only way you can get rid of cell phones in the school is to install cell phone blocking technologies in every part of the school. This would be cost prohibitive.

Anonymous | 11:15 a.m. June 15, 2008

I bet I could buy a cell phone jammer from China for about $20.

Problem solved.

How? | 1:53 p.m. June 15, 2008

How does a cell phone jammer solve the problem of rude comments being posted on the internet?

jcake | 5:06 p.m. June 15, 2008

Schools are notorious for being lawless zones. The mistreatment and harrassment that goes on in schools, often receives little attention from administrators, except to keep it quiet. Behavior that would lead adults to call in law enforcement in other settings, is managed at the whims of principals, who look better to their superiors, if they can keep problems in the shadows.

It is our challenge, as parents, to know as much as possible about what is happening in our kid's schools.

To Jcake | 7:02 p.m. June 15, 2008

Schools are not lawless places. I had a first grade student (first grade!) who was sexually harrassing other students in the class and as well as harrassing me. This student would touch others inappropriately, make sexual gestures, and put his hand up my shirt. We immediately took action; The principal suspended the student, and the police came to investigate by request of the principal. Unfortunately, the parent was very upset and complained to the district that the principal had over-reacted. She threatended to go farther if needed. With parents, teachers and principals can't win. We always seem to be doing something wrong. Parents should know what their children are doing at schools. They're not always the angels that parents believe they are.

Eye Dee Ten Tee | 10:49 p.m. June 15, 2008

I pity the 'parents' who have kids that 'need' cellphones and facebook/myspace to have a social life. Letting your child have unsupervised access to the internet is just like letting them hang out at the corner bar. There is nothing wrong with telling your precious little baby 'NO' once in a while.

Go ahead, make my day.... | 6:23 a.m. June 16, 2008

My solution is simple. Bully or harrass my kids and you get one warning as their parent. Two strikes and you are out. If you cannot control your little darling, we are going to court. I just got done making an example of a kid that just couldn't leave mine alone. His college fund is now mine. Get the picture. If you don't care enough to make your kid quit picking on mine, I am going to punish you. I don't need new laws, the current ones work just fine. So go ahead, make my day.

HarryL | 12:07 a.m. June 17, 2008

A lot of parents encourage this practice by letting their kids do for them what they are too cowardly to do for themselves. Ever know a parent who is a bully? Ever know a parent who gets off watching their kids bully others because they don't have the guts to come out of their closeted bully state of mind? It is a tragic thing when you have this huge social problem with incredibly horrible consequences and it is for the most part merely children following the example, in the footsteps of, the parent. This is not about faith in every footstep; rather it is about fear and the elimination of good kids who can't stand up to the systematic destruction laid on them by bullies and their parents who don't seem to know what is happening. They know, they just don't want to admit to it, because if they do, others will realize who is the really bully.

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