As reported in the Patch, educators will have a direct connection to address issues of online bullying in their school systems in conjunction with a partnership the state has with Facebook. For more information, see the video from WBAL reported by the Patch.
The US News and World Report featured the program in its recent article, Facebook Launches Program to Expedite Reports of Cyberbullying
The new program will give school teachers and staff a streamlined channel to report potential cyberbullying incidents on Facebook, according to an announcement from Maryland Attorney General Douglas Gansler. Each school system will have one point person who deals directly with Facebook to resolve any questionable activity that is not resolved through Facebook’s standard reporting system within 24 hours, through the site’s “Educator Escalation Channel.”
MACo’s education session at the Summer Conference was focused on bullying and cyberbullying. In that presentation, “Schoolyard and Beyond: Understanding and Standing Up to Bullying,” county officials and international experts discussed strategies for countering bullying.
County Executive Ken Ulman described a new app in Howard County that provides online bullying reporting in partnership with schools and libraries, And, Jorge C. Srabstein, MD, Medical Director of the Clinic for Health Problems Related to Bullying at the Children’s National Medical Center described his theory of how bullying, which may often occur first between siblings in the home, can spill over into issues in schools, the workforce, and in romantic relationships.
For more information, see our previous posts on Conduit Street:
Prince George’s County Offers Online Bullying Reporting System;
Anti-Bullying in Howard County? There’s an App for That; and