Seekonk School Department Presents Parent Workshop on Social Media

Parents learned about the current use of social media in the district and the issues surrounding it at a special presentation from the Seekonk School Department on October 26. A panel which included administrators, principals, teachers, law enforcement, and legal counsel discussed how social media is changing education, in both good and challenging ways.

The workshop is the first of a series of presentations planned by the school district. Superintendent Arlene Bosco said the school department has had a lot of questions from parents. The next workshop, scheduled for Nov. 17, will focus on the topic of substance abuse. “Although we don’t have as many problems as some districts, kids often make bad decisions with social media and substance abuse. We wanted to be pro-active,” Bosco said.

It is a very exciting time in education, said Holly Quaratella, Instructional Technology Coordinator for the district, because children have more information at their disposal than ever before. Students can share their knowledge creatively even outside the classroom, she said. However, both parents and the schools also need to teach students to be safe online. “It’s a driver’s license. The internet can be as dangerous as a car,” said Martin Elementary School Principal Bart Lush.

Lush and Aitken Elementary School Principal Nancy Gagliardi said they are seeing more of their students with smart phones, although they are not allowed in school. Many young students are also using social media, although most social media websites, such as Facebook, and apps require that kids be 13 to sign up. Lush said it’s important to teach kids the implications of what they are doing. As an example, he said that a student might think it’s funny to take a photo of another student picking his/her nose and then posting the photo on Instagram, but that student may not realize how it would affect the classmate in the photo. “It’s important to give kids the right tools, but that they know how to use them correctly,” Lush said.

Hurley Middle School Principal Dr. William Whalen said that the middle school is using Twitter very positively. Whalen has an active Twitter account, @DrWalen3, where he regularly posts information on school events. The official Twitter account of the school is @HurleyMiddle and many of the teachers are also on Twitter.

Also at the middle school, Mrs. DeLeo, who teaches computers, has added a section into the curriculum of her computer applications class on the proper use of social media and leaving a digital footprint. Mrs. DeLeo spent a few minutes during the workshop talking about how she is approaching the subject with students.

The workshop also talked about cyber-bullying. Seekonk High School Principal Marcia McGovern and Assistant Principal Dr. Christopher Jones explained what it is and the reasons behind it.
“It has to be aggression occurring over multiple instances,” Jones said. They explained that cyber-bullying happens for different reasons, including anger, frustration, revenge or to get a laugh.

Matthew Gardner, the newly appointed School Resource Officer for Seekonk, and Detective Thomas Hedrick of the Seekonk Police talked about social media safety and legal issues. There is no law against cyber-bullying itself, they explained. Cyber bullying is a blanket term for numerous charges including harassment.

Hedrick explained that most young people don’t use Facebook much anymore. Facebook is used mostly by parents and other adults. Students spend more time texting and on sites such as Snapchat and Instagram. (One of the panelists said that studies show teens send more than 100 texts a day.) Hedrick offered several tips for parents, such as knowing your child’s password and who they are following on Twitter and who their friends are on Facebook. It’s also important that young people know that when you place content on the internet or social media, it is forever.

He cautioned parents about two social media sites – Snapchat and Ask.fm. Hedrick said Snapchat is dangerous because kids think it’s safe since the person seeing the image or video can only see it for a limited time.  Ask.fm is an anonymous posting comment site that has been linked by the media to a few suicides because it is often used to communicate abusive and bullying content. Because ask.fm is anonymous, the user can doesn’t know who is following them. The workshop provided important advice for parents including:

• Talk to your kids about internet safety and the responsible use of technology
• Know your children’s passwords.
• Know what social media sites your kids are using.
• Know how to use the technology and sites that your children are using.
• Note changes in your child’s behavior and attitudes and talk to them if you suspect they are being bullied.
• Set reasonable time limits and guidelines.

Social media is not going anywhere. It is the new normal and it is here to stay, said the experts.
Parents and the schools need to help students use social media responsibly while taking advantage of the opportunities it presents for learning about and connecting with, the global community.
The school department recorded the workshop and plans to make it available to parents.