Personal Devices in School

We are now allowing our students to bring their own personal laptops to school. This announcement was made by our Director of Technology Services through our listserv just this week. Most of my teachers are extremely excited about this new development. The two computer labs and the laptop carts are in constant use at school. Hopefully, students bringing their personal laptops will be a good experience for the students and their teachers. Students will be able to connect to our WiFi. Our filter will continue to provide protection for the students.

What concerns would you have if your students were allowed to bring their laptops?

Cyberbullying

Cyberbullying has become an issue in the last several years that administrators are required to confront. When students are in school, teachers and administrators address the issues of bullying and harassment. We are able to set our expectations for student behavior and follow through with discipline, peer mediation, and counseling for both the bullied and the bully. Cyberbullying occurs through social networking sites such as MySpace, while students are online at home or at a friend's home. This type of harassment causes a high degree of drama on the middle school level. As principal, I have had to deal with the bullied students and their upset parents, as well as the students who posted the hateful comments and their parents. It is somewhat disconcerting to me when I do not have control over what goes on off campus. We have involved our School Resource Officer and discussed with parents how they can contact the networking site. Teachers include lessons and discussions about online behavior and etiquette, but we still have these issues. What are other schools doing to combat this problem?