San Benito High School administrators say technology-savvy
school yard bullies are using the Internet, text messages and
e-mail to harass their peers, and school officials are looking for
ways to crack down on the new form of cyber menacing.
Hollister – San Benito High School administrators say technology-savvy school yard bullies are using the Internet, text messages and e-mail to harass their peers, and school officials are looking for ways to crack down on the new form of cyber menacing.
Popular Web sites, such as myspace.com, have become breeding grounds for rumors, sexual harassment and other forms of bullying, Principal Debbie Padilla said.
“We’ve had more cell phone stuff, but we’ve had Internet stuff, too,” she said. “It’s a problem because it’s harassment.”
Many cases of cell phone or Internet harassment are not reported, but Padilla said that school officials follow up on every incident that is brought to their attention. She did not have figures on how common this new form of harassment is, but estimated that less than 10 percent of all harassment cases involved cell phones or the Internet. Officials have only documented four cases of student harassment this year, according to the latest statistics available.
“I don’t think it will get any worse, but we have to stay on top of it,” she said. “And if it happens off campus, that’s a police matter.”
Although students are not allowed to use their cell phones during school, harassing text messages are still a problem, she said. Common threats and offensive remarks include things like “watch your back” or name calling, Padilla said.
In order to crack down on high-tech harassment, the school has banned the use of Web sites such as myspace.com on school computers. The school also held a harassment training course for teachers at the beginning of the year, Padilla said. Teachers then talked with their students about the problem and the school’s policy regarding misuse of technology. Inappropriate use of school computers can lead to students receiving detention or being suspended, according to the student handbook.
But administrators hope to eventually draft a school policy that will officially address cyber harassment. School officials are working on a plan but a specific timeline for completion has not been set.
In the meantime, officials are tackling the problem reactively. San Benito High School Resource Officer Rich Brown said he’s only dealt with a few cases of cyber harassment. One incident involved a student threatening to hurt or get in a fight with another student. He said he hopes it can be abated before it becomes more widespread.
And with the new form of harassment come difficult ways to combat it. One problem with cyber bullying is that it can be hard to identify the bully, Brown said.
“It’s a challenge to identify the senders,” he said. “However, with the assistance of technology their identity can be obtained.”
Another problem is that some students don’t realize that harassment, even online or via cell phone, is against the law, Brown said. “They are catching on that it’s a crime,” he said. “And if it constitutes a crime, we can get a search warrant and find out the subscriber’s identity.”
Many students may send threatening or harassing messages as a joke, but that doesn’t matter in the eyes of the law, he said.
“If you threaten serious physical injury or death, you’ve crossed the line – that’s a felony,” he said. “It’s not about the intention of the sender, it’s the interpretation of the receiver.”
Junior Natalie Benavides has heard some of her peers complain that students are harassing them or spreading rumors about them on myspace.com, but it hasn’t happened to her. Benavides estimated that nearly 95 percent of San Benito High School students have myspace.com accounts. Myspace.com offers visitors free Web sites on which they can post comments and pictures, send e-mails and develop an online network of friends.
“They’re not scared to say stuff online because it’s not face to face,” she said. “Some people take it as a joke, but others take it seriously.”
Sophomore Sandra Yerena doesn’t believe online harassment is an issue on campus.
“It’s really not a problem,” she said. “It’s definitely not a school problem, it should be dealt with elsewhere.”
Neither student was aware that violent threats on the Internet could be treated as crimes.
Brett Rowland covers education for the Free Lance. He can be reached at 831-637-5566 ext. 330 or br******@fr***********.com.
