CAB teaches students and parents safety on cyberbullying, predators
Published 4:42 pm Saturday, October 25, 2014
AUSTIN — Many parents can’t monitor their children’s online activity all the time, but there are ways parents can help protect their children when it comes to the Internet.
Austin Public Schools and Community Against Bullying have teamed up to bring in Dave Eisenmann to speak to students and parents about how to stay safe with cyber devises. He will be in the schools working with students, and will do a community presentation 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 28 at Austin High School in Knowlton Auditorium.
“It’s a part of our yearly contribution to the community to help kids with safety issues, and we felt that the cyber safety is something that fit in with bullying,” CAB member Danielle Borgerson-Nesvold said.
Yet she noted cyber safety isn’t just about bullying, it’s also about protecting children from predators.
Throughout the school day Tuesday, students from I.J. Holton and older will be getting information on the proper uses of cell phones and safety and the damage that can be done when pressing “send” without thinking it through.
“To (help them) understand that once it’s out there, it’s out there,” Borgerson-Nesvold said. “It covers a really wide umbrella of protecting our kids.”
Eisenmann is the Director of Instructional Technology and Media Services from Minnetonka Public Schools. His presentation is titled “Raising Good Digital Citizens: Cyber safety Resources” and includes the positive uses of technology, proactive values, consequences and expectations, finding a healthy balance, limits, active engagement, and monitoring of trends and pop culture.
The evening class will focus on educating parents on what their children are using the Internet for and how they can help them make good decisions on their personal devices.
“We need to make sure they understand how to use it safely and to respect it,” Borgerson-Nesvold said.
She is hoping for a good turnout, and currently around 40 people have said they will be attending through the Facebook page.
“I’m hoping that at least 100 parents come, but we just encourage everyone to come, it’s a free event,” Borgerson-Nesvold said. “It’s a good way for parents to be proactive.”
She added, “We go to sports meetings, we have fire drills, we need to have people being vigilant about the internet.”
For more information, visit CAB’s Facebook page.