The Challenge of Cyberbullying: What We Can Learn From Megan
by Nancy Willard

As this article is written, there has been significant news coverage about Megan, a 13–year–old Missouri girl who committed suicide in the wake of a cruel cyberbullying hoax by the mother of a neighborhood child. It is probable that this case generated significant news coverage because the incident involved an adult.

Shortly after this incident hit the airwaves, the Journal of Adolescent Health published a special report addressing cyberbullying. An article I wrote on legal issues related to cyberbullying is included in this report.

The Megan incident is actually an atypical case of cyberbullying. Most cyberbullying incidents involve young people being mean to other young people. These incidents are resulting in significant emotional harm. Megan is not the only young person to have taken his or her life in the face of cyberbullying. As you are reading this article, other young people are receiving a electronic communications that state "the world would be better off without you"—which is similar to the comment received by Megan. In fact, we can anticipate copy–cat incidents of such hoaxes.

Cyberbullying is resulting in significant emotional harm to young people. Although much of the cyberbullying (but not all) is occurring off–campus, the very harmful impact is coming to school. The combination of the off–campus cyberbullying and on–campus presence of bullies and targets at school is leading the targets to fail, avoid school, or move to a different school. It is also resulting in school violence, including school fights and in one case a school murder.

The ACLU has been expressing the position that school officials have no authority to respond to any material posted by students while off–campus because of the First Amendment. This is an entirely erroneous interpretation of the case law.

Free speech vs. disruptive behavior

In every single case where the courts have address the free speech protections of off–campus student speech—underground newspapers and online— the courts have consistently held that school officials have the authority to impose discipline if such off–campus speech causes, or a reasonable person would anticipate that it will cause, substantial disruption at school or interference with the rights of students to be secure.

In cases where this legal standard has been applied have included situations where the speech has or could cause significant disruption in school operations or instruction, created a hostile environment for any student(s), or violent altercations. This standard essentially balances the free speech rights of students, which do deserve protection, against the school's important obligation of ensuring student safety and well–being.

Note, that the focus is on the safety and well–being of students. When speech targets staff, it is much harder to meet this legal burden. In such cases, it is safest for schools to respond informally by contacting the parents of the student who posted the speech or in egregious cases to file a law suit against the parents for the harm caused by their child.

Schools need to understand that cyberbullying is an issue they MUST address. This is difficult because school officials already have lots of other responsibilities on their plate. Further complicating the matter is that many safe school staff, including counselors, administrators, and school resource officers, do not have a strong level of understanding about Internet technologies and how young people are using them. It is essential to form a partnership between safe school personnel and educational technology staff to address this concern.

Another major problem is that in many schools, the staff does not have the ability to quickly override the filter to investigate concerns that may appear on any site. Consider this possible situation: A student comes to a counselor and reports that she is concerned that a friend is being bullied online and has posted material indicating that she is thinking about committing suicide. If the counselor is not able to immediately have this student show him or her this online material the odds of finding it independently are nil. The counselor would not know where or how to look and the profile is likely private.

Please take action!

Provide this article to your school administrator and make sure that all safe school personnel have the authority and ability to immediately override (or have the filter overridden by technical staff) to investigate material on any site upon report of a possible safety concern. Also, safe school staff should receive professional development about the online communities and technologies that young people are actively using—including social networking and instant messaging.

But simply responding to incidents is not sufficient. A comprehensive approach is necessary. It is also important to address the potential that cyberbullying is occurring at school:

• Are students able to use the district Internet system or cell phones in school to engage in cyberbullying? If so, there are concerns of district liability.
• What are your policies on non–educational use of the Internet? It is during "Internet recess" that students can bypass the filter to get to social networking sites to post harmful material.

Do not think your filter is stopping this. Students are able to use proxy sites to bypass the filter. New proxy sites are created every day. They are one step ahead of the filtering companies. Effective supervision and monitoring is critically important. Every computer lab should have a remote access monitoring system.

Most importantly, students and parents need to have better information on how to prevent and respond to cyberbullying. An important key in prevention and effective response is seeking to empower competent and caring students to assist. Students are engaging in significant communication in online environments where there are no responsible adults present. Competent and caring young people are the key to addressing this problem. These students can help to shape the values and standards of their online communities. Sometimes, only when it is safe, they can communicate their disapproval to the bully. More importantly is the friendship and assistance they can provide to the target. For young people who are the targets of bullying, having a friend is exceptionally helpful.

Lastly, these competent and caring teens should be encouraged to report online concerns to adults. But they will not report if they are not confident that the adults will understand and be able to effectively address the situation and prevent retaliation. They must have the promise of confidentiality.

It is exceptionally important for schools to address the concerns of cyberbullying—so that we can prevent more tragic incidents like that of Megan.

Detailed information about implementing a comprehensive approach to address cyberbullying is included in my book, Cyberbullying and Cyberthreats: Responding to the Challenge of Online Social Aggression, Threats, and Distress. There are also free resources on my Web site, including a one–page poster, a one–page information sheet that can be copied and sent home to parents, more extensive parent guide, and student curriculum. Starting in 2008, the Center will offer audio and slides presentations for professional development addressing youth risk online, effective Internet use management, and cyberbullying. An email discussion group addressing this issues has also been established.

Nancy Willard is Director of Center for Safe and Responsible Internet Use