School districts working to prevent cyber bullying

Social Media is a way of life for many of us, particularly young people. But there is a downside: cyber-bullying.

One of the biggest problems schools have is that bullies can post anonymously.

“Kids think when they go on there, we’re not going to be able to find out who they are, and so that makes it easy to commit the bullying acts” says Don Roycroft, security officer with Widefield School District 3.

Roycroft adds that opening lines of communication between students and staff can help prevent bullying before it starts.

The district also uses a program that can identify and flag certain words that are inappropriate or threatening. The Safe2Tell program has also proven to be very effective.

“That’s where students and parents, anyone involved around the school can actually report bullying, sexting, any kind of teen issues or student issues, they can report those anonymously” says Roycroft.

Concerned parent Mark Nelson says parents need to get more involved with their children.

“I know with my daughter we talk to her quite a bit about what’s going on in her life, is there this type of bullying going on, also we do monitor her social media outlets that she uses” says Nelson.

Children who are bullied can experience anxiety, depression and health problems and are more likely to drop out of school.

Learn more at http://safe2tell.org/