As Incidents of Cyber Bullying Increase, County Cuts Job of Prevention Program Coordinator

Tyler Clementi, 18, jumped off the George Washington Bridge after a video of him with another male student was streamed live on the World Wide Web.

Alexis Pilkington, 17, took her own life after she became the subject of nasty anonymous online comments that continued on a website tribute to her after her death.

Phoebe Prince, 15, hanged herself after three months of bullying from students via text message and on Facebook.

All of these cases occurred nationally in the last year, and all involved cyber bullying, the latest form of bullying among schoolkids wired via smart phones and the Internet.

Cyber bullying involves victims, of course, but statistics show that 53 percent of kids admit to having said something mean or hurtful to another person online. Some 42 percent of kids say they have been bullied while online.

Anna Bible, coordinator of Safe and Drug-Free Schools for the Carroll County Public School System, has been working to combat the issue, giving presentations to educate students and parents.

But those resources, at least in their current form, may soon disappear. Her position is slated to be cut by July 1 and the program is set to be included within the job of another full-time employee.  

“The position is not just a job to me, it’s a passion of mine to see kids live healthy and successful lives,” said Bible. “Another full time position who has their own assigned duties will be absorbing the duties and programs and I worry what programs and services for kids and their parents will be eliminated and what will that cost our families and ultimately our county?”

The president of the Board of Education said the downturn in the economy has made budget cuts a necessity.

“We regret any cuts that need to be made at this time," said Jennifer Seidel. "Unfortunately we are dealing with dire situations as far as budgets but we will continue to provide the same excellence as we would regardless the cuts.”

Kelli Nelson, a parent of two pre-teens, testified during a Board of Education hearing on the proposed budget. “While the responsibilities of this position may be assumed by others in the system," she said, "I fear no one will have the same passion and dedication to student safety, as the current administrator of these programs.”

Local parent Tracy Beck said children should be educated on cyber bullying. 

“My daughter said that they have talked about the problem in class at school," she said. "I think it is a good program because so many kids are not aware that predators are online.”

Bible’s presentations focus on dealing with the increase of bullying issues over the Internet, phone and on social networking sites, including notifying parents of rules on popular sites like Facebook.

The Carroll County Public School System elementary school counselors and administrators noticed an increase of bullying issues related to use of the Internet and cell phone, and discovered that 10- and 11-year-olds were using Facebook consistently, according to Bible.

The Facebook policy states that users must be 13 to create a profile on the site.

After realizing this, Bible said, “it became apparent that not only cyber bullying needed to be addressed, but some basic cyber safety also needed to be included in the presentation.”

She began holding presentations around the county due to constant requests from parent groups.

In her presentations, Bible talks about how to set up a safe profile by using only first and last name and creating an e-mail that doesn’t give any information about name or gender.

“I also explain how pictures and Youtube videos can be downloaded, revised and changed, and put back up on the Internet,” said Bible. “Once a message or picture is posted there it can’t be taken back!” 

Her rules for parents to give children about staying home alone include:

• Lock the door--meaning set your privacy settings to friends only.
• Don’t talk to strangers--meaning stay out of sites that allow you to talk to strangers. 
• Don’t open the door to strangers--meaning accept friend requests from only people you know in person.

Bullying was the topic of a conference recently at the White House, and even President Obama said he had been bullied as a kid.

“If there’s one goal of this conference, it’s to dispel the myth that bullying is just a harmless rite of passage or an inevitable part of growing up. It’s not,” Obama told the first White House Conference on Bullying Prevention.

“Today, bullying doesn’t even end at the school bell--it can follow our children from the hallways to their cell phones to their computer screens. We’ve got to make sure our young people know that if they’re in trouble, there are caring adults who can help and young adults that can help; that even if they’re having a tough time, they’re going to get through it, and there’s a whole world full of possibility waiting for them.”

According to Bible, this sentiment is a major part of her teachings.

Board of Education member Virginia Harrison declined to comment on the elimination of Bible's position, while the remaining members of the board could not be reached by the time of publication.