Holladay, Jennifer. "CYBERBULLYING The stakes have never been higher for students or schools .

." THE EDUCATION DIGEST. 76.5 (2011): 4-9. EBSCO Host Databases. Web. 20 Mar. 2011.
Itson, Chelsea. "The Anonymous Attacks of Adult Cyberbullying Cross the Line and Enter the "Real World"." www.overcomebullying.org. Anton Hout, n.d. Web. 4 May 2011.

Willard, Nancy. "Cyber-Safe Kids, Cyber-Savvy Teens Cyber-Secure Schools." www.new.csriu.org. Center for Safe and Responsible Use of the Internet, January 2007. Web. 4 May 2011.

---. Educators Guide to Cyberbullying and Cyberthreats. www.new.csriu.org. Center for Safe and Responsible Use of the Internet, April 2007. Web. 4 May 2011.
Hinduja, Sameer, and Patchin, Justin W. Cyberbullying. Identification, Prevention, and Response. www.cyberbullying.us. Cyberbullying Research Center, 2010. Web. 24 Mar. 2011. "Cyber Bullying: What Can Be Done to Address It?" www.scasa.org. South Carolina Association of School Administrators, n.d. Web. 5 May 2011. Bazelon, Emily. "The Blame Game Should the school officials involved in the Phoebe Prince bullying case lose their jobs?." Slate 5 Apr. 2010. Web. 5 May 2011. Heirman, Wannes, and Michel Walrave. "Assessing Concerns and Issues about the Mediation of Technology in Cyberbullying." Cyberpsychology: Journal of Psychosocial Research on Cyberspace 2.2 (2008). Web. 5 May 2011. Levy, Peter. "Confronting Cyberbullying." The Journal 05 Feb. 2011. Web. 6 May 2011. Beale, Andrew V, and Kimberly R Hall. Cyberbullying: what school administrators (and parents) can do. Ed. Kimberly R Hall. The Clearing House 81.1 (2007) : 8-13.

The Digital Plague of the 21st Century: Who Would Step Up to Fight with Cyberbullying
Using modern technology we built up a parallel reality digital world. It provides us with countless opportunities for self-development, education and recreation. However nothing is perfect. We can find an equivalent to almost every threat of the real life in the digital world. (elaborate more on it) When people take a laptop or mobile phone and create messages of ill will about a specific person, cyberbullying is emerging. In a nutshell, cyberbullying is the repeated use of technology to harass, humiliate, or threaten. (Holladay 4) The phenomena may be referred to differently: cyberbullying, cyberstalking, cybermobbing. (Itson) No matter how we name it the gist/essence of the problem remains the same. For several reasons online bullying is even more dangerous than traditional. Technology is widely available. We use it at work, school, home. Therefore cyberbullying might take place any time 24/7. Moreover, any kind of harmful information easily becomes available to an extremely wide audience and, to make matters worse, it cant be removed. Furthermore, the unanimity of the digital world makes a bully feel safe from punishment. (Willard). All this enhance the potential threat of cyberbullying. Indeed, the more developed the technology becomes, the more extensively people use it. The threat of cyberbullying is increasing accordingly. Every Internet or cellphone user is a potential victim of techno-bullying: neither adults nor children can feel safe. However, kids involvement into online bullying either as an offender or a victim is more likely. Children can make wrong choices using Internet simply because of the lack of online experience. Also children may use for instance Internet as a vehicle for self-exploration. Using technology this way children may misuse it. In addition, at times the online reality makes teens forgetting real-life responsibility for their actions. Everything that is done online seems right as it is. Communication online takes a huge part of the childrens daily life. No wonder that they eventually started using technology for evil purposes. To make matters worse, the online unanimity makes teenagers fearless saying or doing what they would never dare in reality (Hinduja ) In fact online bullying became a public issue in 2007, when a pupil in Dardenne Prairie, Missouri, Megan Meier, age 13, hung herself. The suicide came as a result of a number of harassing instant messages. The girl was named a liar and a fat whore on MySpace. ("Cyber Bullying: What Can Be Done to Address It?") ? Since that case youth online bullying incidents have been regularly covered in various media from newspapers to radio stations. Even though the seriousness of the problem has already been realized by society there is one obstacle on the way to successfully reduce cyberbullying practices. None wants to take responsibility to put an

end to the inappropriate use of technology by teenagers. Teachers,parentss, bystanders find their own reasons and excuses for staying aside. (Hinduja ) Meanwhile, while we are trying to decide who should take actions to combat the problem cyberbullies continue attacking their peers in the elbowroom of the World Wide Web without facing any consequences. Recently online bullying has reached such a high degree of potential threat among students that school officials became those to take swift and decisive actions. (Bazelon) Thereby, Educators should take the leading role in preventing students from cyberbullying and inform about it, while other members of the society ought to take secondary role in fighting the problem. To begin with, to fight any problem first its necessary to assess its scale as precisely as possible. And cyberbullying is not an exception. Teachers can reach a huge number of students at a time and, having such unbiased sample, acquire more reliable and accurate information about the level of cyberbullying activities in the school community. Meanwhile parents talking to a child or students communicating with their friends can take only single incidents into consideration. Teachers can get more comprehensive information about Not only educators can use surveys and questionnaires to ask parents and school staff about students. Special investigative strategies such as Activity-Based Assessment (ABA). The history or transition Information Profiles for each student from previous educational institutions they attended are also available for educators use. Designing Personalized Learning for Every Student by Dianne Ferguson, Cleo Droege, Hafds Gujnsdttir, Jackie Lester, Gwen Meyer, Ginevra Ralph, Nadia Sampson and Janet Williams According to Emily Bazelon, a Slate senior editor and an author of a series of articles on cyberbullying, focus groups, class meetings, and surveys sent to teachers, parents, and students are effective practices teachers can use to determine the pervasiveness of the problem as well as its place in the school community. (Bazelon) Another key point is that educators should actively take part in the elimination of cyberbullying because it originates from traditional bullying at schools. Even from the definitions it is clear that cyberbullying is a form of traditional bullying. Consider the two following as an example:

A person is bullied when he or she is exposed, repeatedly and over time, to negative actions on the part of one or more other persons, and he or she has difficulty defending himself or herself... (http://www.olweus.net/public/bullying.page)

"Cyberbullying involves the use of information and communication technologies to support deliberate, repeated, and hostile behavior by an individual or group that is intended to harm others." (Belsey, 2008, p.1)

According to both definitions bullying is concerned with the negative conduct of one or a number of individuals towards a single or several victims. That takes place repeatedly. The only difference turns out to be the tools used in case of cyberbullying according to Beal Belsey these are information and communication technologies. Moreover, it was found that the main signs of traditional bullying such as weak climate at school or negative peer support work the same way for cyberbullying. According to the preceding research there is a strong correlation between the bullying and cyberbullying experiences of an individual. Many of the polled who admitted o be victims of cyberbullying were previously targeted by traditional bullies. For instance, 65 percent of students who were involved in online harassment as an offender or victim previously faced up with traditional bullying. Similarly in most of the studies of online threats the involvement in conventional bullying is reported as a foremost sign that online offence might take place. (Heirman, and Walrave) Since cyberbullying is so much related to traditional bullying, the techniques of preventing the latter may prove to be as effective with the former. Generally educators were responsible for preventing bullying on campus and, therefore, they may spread their bullying-preventive methods on online one.

One more point, sometimes overlooked, is the a strong correlation between the climate at school and the likelihood of cyberbullying to occur. It is commonly known that harmonious climate at school is beneficial for students. It encourages high academic performance, regular attendance and appropriate conduct of the students. It is also crucially important in avoiding clashes between peers. An investigation of students in New Brunswick reports that the persistence of bullying among teenagers is reduced by disciplinary climate the extent to which students internalize the norms and values of the school, and conform to them According to one of the latest studies by Sameer Hinduja, and Justin W. Patchin, the creators of Cyberbullying Research Center, teenagers who were involved in cyberbullying (as offenders and victims) perceived weakened school climate unlike those who didnt have online bullying experience. The survey included such questions as whether the students enjoy going to school, feel safe at school, feel that teachers at their school really try to help them succeed, and feel that teachers at their school care about them. Those children who gave negative answers also affirmed to be cyberbullied. (Hinduja)

Emily Bazelon, a Slate senior editor and an author of a series of articles on cyberbullying, also mentions that reasonably relaxed and friendly climate at schools encourages students to report any cyberbullying incidents to adults. ( Bazelon) In reality the school climate is created by teachers at most. Healthy environment within the school community reduces the extent of any kind of problematic behaviors including online bullying. IN THIS SETTING??? equivalent, educators must promote focus on academic honesty and desirable learning outcomes, create friendly and caring atmosphere in the classroom, provide emotional support. Otherwise harmonious atmosphere at school is impossible. Last but not least, it is up to educators to create an environment where certain conducts are unacceptable for both staff and pupils. An environment where students know exactly what is appropriate and what isnt. (Hinduja) Pursuing this further, educators can make anti-bullying guidance more effective by integrating it into the general school curriculum. In the meantime cyberbullying has become a commonly known evil in the society. Therefore all the members are trying to step forward to prevent it. For sure parents are educating their children about safe internet use and vulnerability of online privacy. However teenagers are likely to just turn a deaf ear to parents reprimands: they are not obliged to listen to them. As a part of curriculum all antibullying events would be compulsory to attend. The absence would be punished in the same way as a missing lesson or lecture. For educators its possible to guarantee that the information will reach most of the students. In addition, teachers then can check how students learn the presented information. For example, a short quiz can be held during in-class discussion. Obligatory netiquette education is promoted by leading cyberbullying specialists. Dr. Patricia Agatston, a certified trainer and consultant for a bullying prevention program, suggests to Spend class time on the topic of cyberbullying and positive digital citizenship. She claims that all the topics concerning online bullying from the definition to the appropriate respond can be covered during regular in-class discussions. Reputation online became crucially important as technology is a part of almost every profession. And as long as career and college guidance is initial responsibility of educators Agaston advices to discuss the notion of netiquette (or online etiquette) while using technology during these guidance sessions. (Levy) Bazelon also suggests including Internet safety lessons into the school program. Thereby, school staff can team up to make the fight against cyberbullying even more effective. For instance, counselors and teachers together can introduce classroom guidance sessions on appropriate Internet etiquette. Bazelon mentions one more novel practice cybercops visits. These specially trained people can be invited to school and inform not only the students but also their parents about the safe Internet use. (Bazelon) Furthermore, anti-bullying education as a part of general curriculum may involve different kinds of creative work that will require critical thinking from students and therefore lead to a better

understanding of the problem. Academic writing on the topic is an example. In particular, teachers may ask pupils to write a personal contract about online behavior for each other. Working on the essay students can go into, analyzes the problem of cyberbullying. This approach is more effective than just making students sign a pre-arranged contract that restricts their use of the Internet. (Holladay 7)

In addition, only within the school community teachers can arrange events where students can educate each other about cyberbullying. Sometimes the material presented by peers may be perceived easier, more willingly than that delivered by adults. (Even though the latter have authority over the child). Such peer education is almost impossible at home. However it is within educators power to make it a part of example extra-curricular activities. Talking about social issues the voice of fellow student might sound more persuasive and legitimate than teachers. At part because of the spirit of contradiction that is sometimes dominant in teens behavior. Therefore educators should include youth leadership and train student mentors as a part of an effective anti-bullying program. (Levy) Nancy Willard, an author of several bullying-prevention books, mentions safe school committees in her Educators guide to cyberbullying. She recommends that such committees not only function in a traditional way educating school-teens about online threats, but also cooperate closely with a group of students who would than address the issue to their classmates. (Educators Guide to Cyberbullying and Cyberthreats.)

The results of cyberbullying vary from depression to deep psychological trauma. The worst outcome is the suicide of the victim. Experience shows that it is educators negligence that leads to such dire consequences. One example will be the sensational case of Phoeb Prince suicide. It was common knowledge that the girl endured a three-month cyberbullying torture. District Attorney Elizabeth Scheibel reported that that certain faculty, administrators knew that the Phoeb was a target of offence before the girl took her life. However school officials remained distant to the inappropriate actions of other students. They even didnt inform Phoebs parents about the situation. The sad consequences is known worldwide. The girls unstable psyche didnt manage to cope with offences and in despair Phoeb put an end to her life. (Bazelon) As we can see from the case sometimes educators become first to know about cyberbullying practice at schools. And it is their responsibility to let parents know about any suspicious incidents. Otherwise they might be responsible for the direst consequences of cyberstalking.

Lastly, real life experiences show that active anti-bullying actions from educators do lead to a significant reduction of the harmful practice among students Take a situation in White Pine Middle School in Ely, Nev., as an xample. The problems of school bullying in general and cyberbullying in particular were pressing for the administrators. However the sincere concern of the staff and creative approach to the problem were effective. The principal Aaron Hansentold about the schools strategy to Fox News. First a school-wide survey took place. Its primary purpose was to find out who were the bullies and when online offence or any other bulling practice occurred. The group of alleged perpetrators was invited to the principals office where Hansentold simply told them: "your peers feel that like you're not very nice to people at times and they feel like sometimes you're a bully." These childrens needs, up to the problems at home, were worked on. These actions helped educators to reduce the extent of bullying at the school. http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/07/15/scitech/pcanswer/main5160437.shtml ) Thereby, educators should be first to step up campaigns at schools into life. to generate and implement anti-cyberbullying

Even though safe technology use education within schools proved to be effective, some people still find arguments that it is not educators duty to fight with the problem of online bullying. At times, school officials disregard the problem of cyberbullying just because they dont have enough time during the school day. A research by Agaston emphasizes that approaching online bullying at schools improves focus on learning and consistent attendance significantly.No one can deny that educators are pressed for time. Nontheless, if they can see the link between academic achievements and bullying, they'll see that it's well worth the time," Agaston says. Therefore a pittance of time cant be an excuse for educators iunactivity in confronting cyberbullying at schools. (Levy)

Even if the lack of time doesnt become an issue educators still can be ignorant to the problem of cyberstalking saying that it occurs away from school. At part it may be true. Students may receive the messages of hate on their home computers. However some studies show an opposite trend. For instance, according to the first American-wide survey on school bullying 74% of eight- to eleven-year-old students admitted that bullying did take place at the schools they study in. The percentage is high enough to conclude that educators must treat any kind of bullying seriously. (Beale 8)

Ryan Halligan and Phoebe Prince this teenagers have one in common their lives ended in bulliside(or suicide because of cyberbullying). This kids were receiving harassment instant messages out of their schools. So its hard to be denied that the act of bullying took place outside the educational institution. However in both cases fellow students from school were acting as bullies. That means that the initial conflict took place at school where educators are responsible for the students appropriate behavior. Therefore it was up to educators to take immediate actions to prevent the acts of bullying. They didnt bother to do this as generally school officials are not responsible for what happens to children off campus. However the conflicts that led to cyberbullying emerged at schools. And it was still in educators power to prevent students bullysides. Sometimes it is argued that as soon as parents are responsible for their under-aged children, they, not educators, should take the leading role in cyberbullying prevention. This may become true in future. However so far parents know too little about the overall online activities of their children to effectively confront cyberbullying. For instance, a study from Common Sense Media uncovered that American parents often have no idea of how networking sites are used and what their children do surfing them. Moreover only 18% of parents suspected their children of making fun of a peer in WWW while 37% of students admitted to doing this.www.eddigest.com There is one more problem about parental control over Internet use. Some parents are simply not as technologically savvy as their children. For many adults computer is cheifly a practical tool, while for adolescents it is a means of communication. This gap in understanding of technology makes it hard for parents to efficiently provide anti-bullying education to their children. Their authority over children simply loses its value for the teens. (Beale 10) As we can see that parents are still not ready to fight with cyberbullying by themselves. And educators become those who assist parent outreach. The issue of online bullying is presented to parents via newslatters, hand-sheets, during workshops. (Educators Guide to Cyberbullying and Cyberthreats). Sometimes school go even further in their ptreventing programs. They command both students and parents to sign Acceptable Internet Use where the students rights and obligations and perents responsibilities regardinf safe Internet use are defined. (Beale 11) After all it can be concluded that educators should take the leading role in preventing online bullying, making use of parents assistance.

Last but not least, educators may justify the lack of anti-bullying practice in schools because their actions are restricted by The First Amendment. When can a school legally respond to cyberbullying

by disciplining the student? The First Amendment restricts disciplinary actions that touches upon students speech both off- and online. According to the law school officials can place educationally based restrictions on student speech that appears to be sponsored by the school or that is necessary to maintain an appropriate school climate. However if educators are really interested in regulating students online behavior even off campus there is a way out. First, the law itself gives teachers a certain amount of freedom in their actions. For off-campus online speech or speech via personal digital devices used on campus, the courts have ruled that the speech must have caused or threaten to cause a substantial and material threat of disruption on campus or interference with the rights of students to be secure. If this cant be applied to the case, the school can scrupulously search for school nexus (nexus a connection or series of connections linking two or more things http://oxforddictionaries.com/view/entry/m_en_us1271338#m_en_us1271338). An example of such connection is sending offensive materials to other students via Internet system of the district In this case or if online bullying is connected with bullying that takes place on campus school officials can legally take control over situation. Educators Guide to Cyberbullying and Cyberthreats. Concluding from the information above although First Amendment does place several restrictions over educators work, there are enough legal ways to sidestep them if it is in teachers power to prevent cyberbullying acts.

For sure, the leading role of educators in fighting cyberbullying doesnt mean that parents, youngsters and bystanders should stay aside. Online bullying is so widespread that the problem is to be resolved on school wide scale. (. (Beale, Andrew V, and Kimberly R Hall. Cyberbullying: what school administrators (and parents) can do. Ed. Kimberly R Hall. The Clearing House 81.1 (2007) : 8-13.)) Agaston suggests that schools must be flexible regarding who takes part in the online safety events. "Within schools we need to move from the idea of anti-bullying being the responsibility of the school counselor to being the responsibility of the whole school community, which includes parents," she says. (Levy) So to successfully combat it all the members of school community from teachers and counselors to students and parents have to cooperate to create bullying-free learning environment. (. (Beale 12 Andrew V, and Kimberly R Hall. Cyberbullying: what school administrators (and parents) can do. Ed. Kimberly R Hall. The Clearing House 81.1 (2007) : 8-13.)). Hopefully, bringing all this to life we wont have any more childrens graves on the bullying cemetery. It cannot be denied that school officials have several advantages in fighting cyberbullying. They can reach a wide youth audience and have strong authority over students. As educational workers they

have the professional knowledge of child psychology that is very useful in preventing online bullying. Overall experience of work with children does matter. Thats why school educators should play a leading role in rescuing students from the digital plage of the 21st century - cyber bullying.