The Verona Public Schools district is holding an in-person presentation on digital safety and preventing cyberbuylling on Wednesday, December 13, from 7 to 8:30 p.m. at Verona High School. The presentation, “Digital Safety & Mindfulness,” will be led by Richard Guerry, founder of the nonprofit Institute for Responsible Online and Cell-Phone Communication (IROC2).
The presentation comes in the wake of a report by the Verona Police Department that four girls repeatedly called a 13-year-old with harassing messages, telling their target “to die” and, the police said, “other things that are too inappropriate to memorialize in this post.”
Guerry’s presentation will talk about ways to prevent cruelty online, safe communication in gaming, social media oversharing, and other current and future cyber issues. He says his audience will learn to promote responsible use of digital tools and prevent malicious digital behaviors.
The presentation is free and open to all community members ages 11 and up. The district is asking people to RSVP so that it knows how large a room to reserve for the event. It will also be live-streamed on the Verona Schools YouTube channel.
This is not the only thing that Verona schools are doing to address bullying and cyberbullying. VHS has posted QR codes around the building that students can use to report bullying. Also, Superintendent Diane DiGiuseppe announced in November that the district will soon be piloting a program based on empathy for grades five through eight, where she said 75% of students have reported in a school climate survey that kids pick on each other, both online and in person. The program would rotate from teacher to teacher so that all of the middle school educators understand the approach.
