Schools delete cyber-bullying

Everyone knows that kids can be cruel.

Bullies have always been a threat on playgrounds and in cafeterias, but the advancement of technology has made it even easier for them to deliver their hateful, embarrassing or threatening comments against fellow students.

A nasty blog or compromising photograph can be posted on the Internet within minutes.

School officials used to have little control over what happened after school or off campus, but not any more. On Jan. 1, the state of California amended its education code to authorize school districts to suspend or expel students who bully their classmates via harassment on the Internet, through e-mail or texting, or through social sites such as Facebook or MySpace.

According to Las Virgenes Unified School District Superintendent Donald Zimring in a report to his school board, the law defines bullying as "an act by a student or a group of students directed specifically against other students or school personnel and constitutes sexual harassment, hate violence, pervasive intentional harassment, threats, or intimidation that is disruptive, causes disorder, and invades the rights of others by creating an intimidating or hostile environment."

School administrators have reported "significant increases" in the frequency of cyber bullying, Zimring said.

But enforcement will be difficult.

The school district can only take action against a student if it can be proved that the victim's life has been disrupted.

"If a youngster is afraid to be at school, that's a disruption," Zimring said.

The superintendent wants students to be aware that harassing classmates online or through text messages on cellular phones is unacceptable.

"It's so easy to type something . . . and think that it's cute," he said. The receiver of the message, however, may not see the humor and actually find the comments cruel.

Incidents of cyber-bullying have occurred before, but the district could not legally take actions against the perpetrators since the harassment happened off school property.

In 2000, a sophomore at Agoura High School was repeatedly harassed on the Internet. Students created a tenth-grade class website and named the student "the ugliest girl." Taunting by several members of the football team followed, and rumors spread at parties and through the Internet. The tormented girl eventually transferred to a school in the San Fernando Valley.

If an incident like this happened under the new law, students would be identified and either suspended or expelled.

"This (law) gives us a little more clout," Zimring said. "A heightened awareness and sensitivity is needed by students."

Board member Cindy Iser wanted the language to be "more specific and clear." She added that while students need to learn appropriate behavior on and off the Internet, the "policy doesn't necessarily teach the student anything."

"Internet ethics lessons are needed," Iser said.

Jane Lofton, a teacherlibrarian at Lindero Canyon Middle School, suggested that a letter about the new law be sent to students and their parents and that the families should be required to read and sign it.