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Cyberbullying
Clay Nolan
The Dignity for All Students Act was signed into law on September 13, 2010, effective July 1,
2012. The basis for the Dignity Act is to prohibit harassment and discrimination of individuals on school
property or at a school function based on a person’s actual or perceived race, color, weight, national
origin, ethnic group, religion, religious practice, disability, sexual orientation, gender or sex. The Dignity
Act amends Section 801-a of NYS Education Law regarding instruction in civility, citizenship, and
character education by expanding the concepts of tolerance, respect for others and dignity. DASA
further amends Section 2801 of the Education Law requiring Boards of Education and BOCES to include
The goal of the Dignity Act is to promote a safe and supportive learning environment in all public
schools, free from harassment and discrimination. The research indicates there is a direct link between
success in school and the environment in which student learning takes place. The research also indicates
that students are more likely to achieve their full potential in schools that have a positive school culture
and environments which students feel safe and supported. Creating a school culture of respect is
The Dignity Act protects all public school students in NYS from harassment or discrimination by
other students or adults. It builds upon the SAVE Legislation by targeting discrimination and harassment
in public schools. Schools must have a code of conduct readily available on their websites, which
specifically reflects preventing of discrimination and harassment of students by students or staff. A plain
language, age-appropriate summary must be provided to all students. A complete code of conduct
should be given to each teacher and parents/guardians of students are required to receive a plain
language summary at the beginning of every school year. Schools are also required to include instruction
on awareness and sensitivity to harassment and discrimination within the protected classes. Many
schools already have a character education program in place, and have been able to adjust the program
intentionally and repeatedly cause harm to another. This harm can be from such experiences as
emotional, psychological, or relational and result in consequences for students at school. Cyberbullying
is considered a form of harassment and is therefore covered under the act. This behavior that occurs
through e-communication using a school computer or other school-owed device, using any electronic
device while at school or on school property, or using any electronic device while at a school function,
would be prohibited under the Dignity Act. This includes computer, cell phone, texting, or other forms of
electronic communication.
Even though DASA should protect those involved with cyberbullying as a form of harassment, it
becomes an ethical issue for a superintendent since this form of bullying can be done from any location
including outside of the school day and school environment. Cyberbullying does not have to be solely
done on a school device either. Approximately 70% of Americans have social media profiles, where this
type of bullying commonly occurs, and they have readily and available access to these profiles at their
leisure. This form has become more prevalent since it is easy to do. Bullies can hide behind the mask of
being anonymous, or not, and feel more confident or powerful in typing their comments. A digital
environment disinhibits people. With traditional bullying done face-to-face, one is less likely to be rude
or aggressive since the bully cannot see the other’s face and reactions. But in the environment of
cyberbullying, there is a lack of these social cues, so the bully is more likely to be extreme with
comments. Finally, the intent to bully can sometimes be absent in the digital environment. Students do
not realize how their casual actions can escalate out of their control. And once something is posted to
the Internet, it can remain and be spread forever due to screenshots and common hacks. Deleting
something does not necessary rid the evidence or how it made someone feel.
Consider the following example from Olean, a young, high school boy breaks up with his long
time girlfriend. While they were dating, the girlfriend sends the boyfriend explicit images and videos
from her cell phone. After they broke up, the girl and the boy fought regularly because the girl wanted
to be partners again. After countless tries and effort to no avail, the girl decides to take a different
approach screaming profanities and inappropriate names in front of him and his friends in the hall on
the way to class. As a result, the boy forwarded the saved explicit images and videos of the girl that
night after school to his friends, who could then easily do whatever they would like with them as well,
sending them along or even posting them on the internet creating a never ending cycle. Now, the issue
of cyberbullying becomes ethical. Is this considered cyberbullying since it wasn’t done on a school
device? Can school officials show that it does or potentially will materially and substantially disrupt the
operation of the school or has interfered with the rights of other students?
Although every state includes some form of digital content as part of their harassment laws,
only some specifically address cyberbullying. The courts have not been very helpful either deciding
rulings on the jurisdiction of districts to go beyond the school environment to contain harassment. The
Supreme Court case Tinker v. Des Moines is the ruling that is commonly used to define cyberbullying
cases and uses the language of it being a substantial disruption at school. Superintendents need to keep
this at the forefront of their mind when thinking about disciplinary actions associated with the students.
It also becomes ethical because technology integration is a big push in school districts. One-to-
one initiatives are the new wave for buildings. Students have easy access to technology and platforms to
conduct the cyberbullying. This push of technology is crucial because it can enhance learning and
everything is at the touch of the fingertips. Plus, most students have now grown up in the digital age and
become more engaged and invested with content when some form of digital environment is being used
as a strategy. Student achievement also increases when technology is being used as a tool effectively in
the classroom. Superintendents need to prepare the districts for all the consequences that can occur
homes causing different court cases with varying results. Layshock v. Hermitage Sch. Dist. involved the
school suspending and sending a cyberbully to an alternative education school for creating a fake
account of a high school principal. At first, the courts sided with the school, but after being reopened
due to appeals, it was determined that the school’s disciplinary actions were too much and had to pay
retribution. A similar case, A.B. v. State of Indiana sided with the state after A.B. posted negative
messages about a school dress code policy and created a group to demean the principal. The decision
was then reversed because the state failed to fulfill all requirements necessary for a harassment
charge. Different results occurred in the case, Wisniewski v. Bd. of Edu. Weedsport Central Sch. Dist. A
student created an icon of a teacher with a bullet through his head and spread it throughout the district
and Internet. The school suspended the student, which held up in court, since it caused substantial
disruption to the school community. J.S. v. Blue Mountain Sch. Dist. reveals another case of students
wanting to reverse the discipline placed upon them for creating a fake profile of a principal charging him
with being a sex addict and constantly flirting with students and parents. The court ruled in favor of the
school since this behavior had potential to disrupt school operations. With varying court cases, it is
difficult to determine what the disciplinary action should be and if that action will hold up in court
With these cases and rulings in mind, a superintendent needs to make sure the code of conduct
in their district for teachers, students, staff, and parents is up to date and current with all court cases
and DASA requirements in regards to cyberbullying. The language within the code should discuss the
when and how the cyberbullying occurs, such as on a school device in school or out of school or on a
personal device in school or outside of school. Another consideration would be to determine if school
Internet was used on a personal device or not. Along with the code, the disciplinary actions and choices
should be laid out in a manner that is consistent and also aligns with previous court decisions. When
districts did not have this done, issues started occurring, which raised the awareness of cyberbullying.
As mentioned previously, DASA requires schools to have a code of conduct readily available on
their websites, which specifically reflects the preventing of discrimination and harassment of students
by students or staff. Cyberbullying should be a part of these codes. The table below represents how
Environment
Disciplinary Social Media
for Digital
Includes Actions for Usage Acceptable
Last Cyberbullying Easily Citizenship
School District Cyberbullying Bullying B: Blocked Technology
Update Defined (In Accessible Ideas
Language Outlined L: Limited Use Contract
School v. Out Addressed
O: Open
of School)
Cattaraugus-Little
2018 x x x L x lot
Valley
toward the issue. Documenting these actions allows schools to have evidence if a policy is violated.
Listing the consequences, having students sign an acceptable use form, delineating where the offence
happens, and clearly outlining cyberbullying as an infraction, keeps the students in check by them
knowing the boundaries and disciplinary actions that will be administered. Additionally, these items
prepare the district to take proper procedural action if needed. Furthermore, it shows that steps are
being taken in order to provide securities for students and ensure that their safety from harassment is a
priority. For example, Cattaraugus-Little Valley starts teaching about digital citizenship as early as
kindergarten in a manner that supports the experiences students have at school and to understand that
technology in the classroom is a tool and not a toy. The focus becomes on taking responsibility for their
work, handling the devices with care, and respecting others by asking permission to take pictures of
them or their work. Starting in the elementary grades helps students become aware of the digital
environment, sets them up for success in later grades, and hopefully helps them realize how their
Restrictions placed on social media within the district can vary causing different outcomes in
both cases. When districts completely or partially block social media, students can easily access these
apps using their personal data plans. Also, new apps are appearing constantly, so a school district would
really have to keep up on the day-to-day updates and filters. More often times than not, students find
some way around the filters in order to use the apps. The only way to completely try to rid this problem
would be to ban personal devices for the whole day, but this notion would create even more issues. If
school districts do not block social media apps, they could be leaving the door open for students to take
advantage of the access, which could lead to cyberbullying. School districts are now realizing all of these
options and consequences. Some have started blocking social media only on district devices but leaving
use policy, and/or verbally that actions done outside of the school district concerning cyberbullying
could have actionable consequences imposed from the school district. Students need to realize that just
because cyberbullying can occur off of campus, repercussions could ensue from the school district if
substantial disruptions or the potential to do harm exists with the victim. Some school districts, like
Franklinville, have responded to this issue by updating their acceptable use policies to include parents to
provide a signature as well. They are trying to get the parents involved since the best prevention for a
cyberbully is for parents to communicate and educate digital responsibility when using devices. Other
schools, Cuba-Rushford and Wellsville, are signing up with programs such as Sweethearts and Heroes.
This is a group of motivational speakers to discuss the impact bullying has and how bystander
empowerment, empathy, and leadership can change a culture becoming someone’s Sweetheart or
Hero. Cuba-Rushford has even continued the movement after the speakers visited by creating a hashtag
on Twitter and days built into their year to honor the Sweethearts and Heroes that do kind deeds for
others.
One piece of literature that weighs in on cyberbullying acknowledges that this issue is a serious
problem for teens and young adults, but they don’t believe they will be victims according to the same
poll. It also revealed that parents and kids state social media is having negative effects on younger
generations. The participants in this poll noted that the responsibility to prevent these actions online
should be a parent’s. The research team suggests a policy needs to be in place at school districts that
follows along the lines of “see something-do something.” Anonymous reporting to school officials is one
way to accomplish this in forms of an app to capture screenshots, photos, or videos of the incident. With
this program, an added benefit would be that it could be for more than just cyberbullying but for safety
threats, drug or alcohol abuse, depressions, or other sensitive topics. All reporters remain anonymous
but can choose to identify themselves if they would like to discuss the issue. The only problem with this
type of reporting is that it could turn into “tattle-telling.” Reports could be coming in that are not
warranted or fake and causing more work for the administrator in charge of reviewing the reports.
Another piece of literature discusses how librarians and students can work together to combat
cyberbullying since there are very few resources that exist to help teens with this issue. It’s apparent
that students care about their friends’ online experiences, but the only safety advice usually given to
them is from adults, out of date, not in line with their experiences, or unrealistic. Librarians have a
unique role within the school when working with students. A different relationship can exist where
students feel more comfortable confiding in a librarian than their parents or other teachers especially
since librarians are being viewed as media specialists who teach digital citizenship, responsible use, and
confront cyberbullying the most. There are some behaviors to pay attention to as students use
technology that can indicate prior negative experiences such as escaping these lessons, being uneasy,
preferring solitude, avoiding talking about online activities, or be depressed, angry, or frustrated while
online. If a student confides in you certain steps can help guide the process, convey you are on their
side, remind them it is not their fault, remain calm, control facial expressions, listen, help them set up
protections on their device or app, and report the problem to the company. Most importantly, the
article suggests empowering students to promote kindness online. The digital environment is usually in
the negative eye but show students how positivity can be just as viral. It is critical to get youth excited
about specific ways they can use the Internet for peer influence to show care and compassion toward
others by either creating anonymous accounts to compliment or encourage others or public service
announcements for the school and community. Providing students strategies of what they can do
positively in the digital environment is just as imperative as teaching what they should not be doing.
The next piece of literature looks at the reasons of cyberbullying. This is important to
understand in order to be able to try to stop it. Cyberbullying can happen because of boredom, jealousy,
or unhappiness. The access and opportunity of online also leads to it because of the long and
unsupervised access to technology. Students who cyberbully usually do not feel any guilt or shame and
claim it makes them feel better especially if it gets them attention. They use it as a coping mechanism.
According to the CDC, girls are more likely to be the victims but also perpetrators. It also occurs in cycles
where victims usually cyberbully others. This information is key to understand which groups of students
should be targeted a little more when trying to prevent cyberbullying. It also gives insights to what the
cyberbully is feeling so help could be provided to the student. Being able to stop the actions before they
occur would be beneficial for the school district in order to avoid possible legalities.
The last piece of literature covers the topic of punishing cyberbullying if it happens off campus.
California and Illinois have passed laws explicitly allowing schools to punish students for cyberbullying if
it happens off campus, but free speech advocates challenge these laws. Justin Patchin, from the
Cyberbullying Research Center, advocates that this type of bullying should be punished especially since
one in three middle and high school students experience it. As courts have determined, if the
cyberbullying causes substantial disruption that interferes with the rights of the students then
disciplinary actions should occur. If students are being mistreated by their peers outside of school, then
there is probably no doubt they don’t feel safe in school. Research shows that students being bullied in
the digital environment are also being bullied in school, which does require disciplinary actions. If
schools are willing to punish bullies no matter where it occurs, students are less likely to partake in the
negative behavior. Teachers and administrators best deal with this punishment since they deal with
students on a regular basis. The response to online bullying needs to be appropriate but also
students).
On the contrary, Edwin Yohnka of the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois, believes
cyberbullying should be dealt with completely by parents. Parents should handle all off campus
violations of school rules including cyberbullying. If the victim still feels unsafe, then parents need to
make the school district aware. Policing students’ social media posts becomes an infringement on the
First Amendment. It also opens up the door of where to draw the line if other violations are being done
outside of the school environment. How could the school punish one thing but not the other? Edwin
brings up the idea of how important student-teacher relationships are and how they can become
damaged if teachers are delivering punishments to students for something that happens outside of the
classroom. Teachers should instead teach appropriate behavior for online alongside explaining why it is
wrong. This way, teachers can continue to be educators and not disciplinarians.
To deal with this issue, school districts should first be proactive in preventing it from happening.
Districts should adopt a curriculum for cyberbullying and begin implementing it as soon as possible to
every grade level. Sample curriculums, lessons, strategies, and books can be found in Appendix A. Along
with these resources, districts should adopt their vision regarding digital citizenship and what it means
to them since the Internet and social media are embedded in our students’ lives. It is the schools job to
make sure children are safe and use technology for positive interactions rather than negative. Digital
Citizenship should not be a class but more of a practice that is integrated into the curriculum. Teachers
of all subject areas should be able to model and implement different ways that social media can be used
for positive impact. Students can create a movement, share successes and share their writings with the
world. If schools allow that to happen then teachers can create great experiences and teachable
moments. Schools should look at digital citizenship as a bunch of do’s and not and as a bunch of don’t’s.
Districts also should update their code of conducts, accessible technology use forms, and behavior
cyberbullying and what the repercussions could be. If done correctly and appropriately, students will be
less likely to engage in the behavior, on or off campus, knowing that the school district can enforce
Court cases have determined it to be an issue only if it provides substantial disruption to the school but
have ruled in different outcomes depending on the evidence provided. Being proactive in a school
district seems to be the best way to prevent cyberbullying by providing curriculum and infusing digital
citizenship into all subject areas. The parents and community are also necessary components when
dealing with the issue. They have a responsibility to help students how to behave online. Overall, it
seems the best rule of thumb is to tweet others how we want to be tweeted in the digital environment.
Works Cited
Beckwith, Mark. “Cyberbullying and Digital Citizenship at Olean.” Cyberbullying and Digital
Citizenship, 27 Nov. 2018.
Carls, Mark. “Cyberbullying and Digital Citizenship at Friendship.” Cyberbullying and Digital
Citizenship, 28 Nov. 2018.
Cook, Glenn. “Harassment Versus Free Speech: The Blurred Lines of Social
Media.” Education Update, May 2014.
Damani, Bijal. “Cyberbullying: Is It Happening In Your Class?.” Education Update, Jan. 2011.
France, Paul Emerich. “Patterns of Interaction: Digital Citizenship as a Way of Being and
Thinking.” Literacy Today, Jan. 2016, p. 28-30. Expanded Academic ASAP,
http://link.galegropu.com/apps/doc/A439834300/GPS?u=nysl_we_caew
&sid=GPS&xid=0732af1a. Accessed 28 Nov. 2018.
Hinduja, Sameer, and Justin W. Patchin. “How Librarians and Students Can Work Together to Combat
Cyberbullying and Promote Kindness Online.” Voice of Youth Advocates, Feb.
2016, p. 28-31. Educators Reference Complete,
http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A443367880/GPS?u=nysl_
we_caew$sid=GPS&xid=902c6dbe. Accessed 28 Nov. 2018.
Patchin, Justin W., and Edwin C. Yohnka. “Should Schools Punish Off-Campus
Cyberbullying?” New York Times Upfront, 9 Oct. 2017, p. 22-26. Educators Reference
Complete, http://link/galegroup.com/apps/doc/A510937535/GPS?u=nysl_
we_caew&sid=GPS&xid-d66cb697. Accessed 28 Nov. 2018.
Rose, Ashley. “Study: Cyberbullying a Problem for Teens, Young Adults.” Cleburne Times-
Review, 11 Oct. 2018.
1. Building Tolerance: Strategies and Tools for Talking with Your Children and School About
Bullying Presentation:
https://www.pioneerschools.org/cms/lib/NY19000288/Centricity/Domain/1/bully%20presentati
on.pdf
2. Sample Code of Conduct Presentation (beginning of the year with students):
https://www.pioneerschools.org/site/handlers/filedownload.ashx?moduleinstanceid=10617&d
ataid=16173&FileName=Code%20of%20conduct%202018019.pdf
3. Awareness/Educational Game for Students: https://www.commonsense.org/education/digital-
compass
4. Don Shomette (People of the Prize) Motivational Speaker: http://www.peoplearetheprize.com/
5. Digital Citizenship Presentation (#DigCitIMPACT):
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1naBjCorFWyRITanUpT3-
ehHBaWtS_v7hB9A6k7PquqM/edit#slide=id.g470e607771_0_1
6. Digital Citizenship Presentation (Let’s talk #DigCit…But First, Let Me Take a Selfie!):
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1oPCiZRh5V4TN8_RFl6RKchUlUbTcAidMW4YLLRRgVeY
/edit#slide=id.g37ca13e63a_4_12
7. Stop Bullying Prevention: https://www.stopbullying.gov/
8. International Society of Technology Education Digital Citizenship Articles:
https://www.iste.org/explore/categorylist?code=Digital+citizenship
9. Cyber Bullying: A Prevention Curriculum for Grades 6-12:
https://www.hazelden.org/web/public/08sumcyberbully.page
10. Safe and Supportive Learning: https://safesupportivelearning.ed.gov/
11. NYSED Office of Student Support Services: http://www.p12.nysed.gov/sss/
12. New York State Center for School Safety: http://www.nyscfss.org
13. NYS School Safety and the Education Climate: DASA Data Reporting:
http://www.p12.nysed.gov/irs/school_safety/school_safety_data_reporting.html
14. Common Sense Media: http://www.commonsensemedia.org/educators
15. Center for Safe and Responsible Internet Use: http://www.cyberbully.org
16. TeachersFirst: http://www.teachersfirst.com/safety.cfm
17. Cyberbullying Research Center: http://www.cyberbullying.us/resources.php
18. Bullying a School: Long-Term Outcomes for the Victims and an Effective School-Based
Intervention Program by Dan Olweus
19. A Case for Strengthening School District Jurisdiction to Punish Off-Campus Incidents of
Cyberbullying by Todd D. Erb
20. Don’t Suspend Me! An Alternative Discipline Toolkit by Jessica Djabrayan and John E. Hannigan
21. Words Wound: Delete Cyberbullying and Make Kindness Go Viral by Sameer Hinduja and Justin
W. Patchin
22. Bullying Beyond the Schoolyard: Preventing and Responding to Cyberbullying by Sameer Hinduja
and Justin W. Patchin