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"Social Media and Bullying" Keep Children Alive
by William Jackson, M.Ed.
Blogger, Speaker, Educator, Parent
@wmjackson
The recent suicide deaths of youth, teens and young adults is
alarming across the country. Even more disturbing the increase
of African American teens that historically do not attempt
suicide, but the numbers are increasing beyond whites of the
same ages.
The deaths of 14 year old Naika Venant and 8 year old Gabriel Taye
is another wake up call for parents to work to strengthen relation-
ships with their children that provides open conversation and to
stay connected with schools.
This is also a message to schools that more needs to be done to
prevent these deaths by including professional development to
students so they understand how to prevent and even cope.
Bullying is consistently in the news, on Social Media and even the
subject of movies and YouTube videos. Educational systems seem
to band-aid the situation not address it head on because there is
little or no collected and categorized data.
In the recent "Social Media and Bullying" worship at Abyssinia
Baptist Church with their Youth Wednesday Group with the youth
and teens, William Jackson a educator, blogger and speaker talked
with the Abyssinia Baptist Church Youth group. Having spoken
previously to youth, teens, young adults and families at
The Bridge of Northeast Florida, the growing situations are
not going away, the events are increasing.
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Students attending share that they are put in situations
where teachers and administrators tell them to man or
woman up, to stop being a baby and even if they can't
handle it to change schools.
The laws put in place to help children feel safe are not
working, in fact students feel that the laws are put in
place to help protect adults not children. Too many children
agree that they are powerless and voiceless and even state
that there are more attempted suicides that schools and the
media are not reporting. Private schools and even religious
schools are not exempt, because they do not have to report
events very little is known and even the community hides
situations that may put a blemish on perceived Utopian
lives that are spiraling out of control.
Many schools do not keep data to track bullying incident, and
parents are sometimes not given the complete stories. In the
case of Naikia Venant, posted in http://blackdoctor.org that
"in 2016, researchers found that suicide rates have doubled
for Black children," and these actions do not represent the
behaviors of Black children from the past.
Discussions like these at Abyssinia Baptist Church Youth Group
"Social Media and Bullying" workshops are needed to increase
to learn from youth, teens and young adults what is happening
in their world and the relationships they have in schools and
their communities.
The increase of teachers taking First Aid for Mental Health
to be aware of the signs of mental instability in children and
to be trained to address issues that arise still do not address
the holistic approach to families in need and struggling.
It will take the community and families to make changes
in how bullying, cyberbullying and sexting is viewed and the
work it takes to make changes. Change must come or
youth, teens and young adults will continue to take their
lives even before their lives begin.
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Resources:
Gabriel Taye Commits Suicide
http://people.com/chica/8-year-old-boy-commits-suicide-after-being-bullied-at-school/ (http://people.com/chica/8-year-old-boy-commits-suicide-after-being-bullied-at-school/)
Bullying Leads to Suicide
http://ktla.com/2017/05/13/
video-shows-bullying-incident-at-cincinnati-school-days-before-8-year-old-boys-suicide/ (http://ktla.com/2017/05/13/%3Cbr%20/%3Evideo-shows-bullying-incident-at-cincinnati-school-days-before-8-year-old-boys-suicide/)
14 Year old commits Suicide
http://www.baltimoreblack.com/14-year-old-miami-girl-dies-suicide-facebook-live/ (http://www.baltimoreblack.com/14-year-old-miami-girl-dies-suicide-facebook-live/)
This is definitely an issue in todays society. Coaching kids on proper use of social media at an early age is vital to keep their well being a priority.
Having had a kid who was cyber bullied for a solid 2 years I recognize the trauma it can cause kids, especially at the teen years. I can't tell you how many times I came close to calling police after tracking the source IP of the bozo.
Changing phone numbers only delayed the issue. Using Facebook, they would simply find other friends who would innocently pass along the new phone number and the craziness would start again.
It would always escalate to someone posting a personal on Craigs List that was over the top and cause their phone to blow up. By the time they went back to school on Monday, they were the butt of a million jokes due to someones lack of respect.
This is what leads kids into that level of depression. 1 on 1 is bad enough, but when it becomes the school wide joke, kids feel trapped.
Curious, what's the consequence in Duval County Public Schools if a child is caught cyber-bullying another student?
As a society, we need zero tolerance policies for bullying like that described above.
Get caught once, you're suspended for multiple days.
Twice, you're out.
Quote from: KenFSU on June 06, 2017, 03:09:15 PM
Curious, what's the consequence in Duval County Public Schools if a child is caught cyber-bullying another student?
As a society, we need zero tolerance policies for bullying like that described above.
Get caught once, you're suspended for multiple days.
Twice, you're out.
LOL. You are out how? They still have to provide you with a FAPE so they end up in alternative school and then get sent back after a few months, but that would only be in the worst of scenarios since the Alternative Schools may be the only overcrowded schools in most of DCPS.
Here is a link to the Student Code of Conduct for Duval County Public Schools
https://dcps.duvalschools.org/Page/9868 (https://dcps.duvalschools.org/Page/9868)