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West Patent Fifth Graders Talk Internet Safety

Director of Tech and SROs stand in front of a group of student for internet safety talk
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students raise hands during internet safety talk in classroom

“Nothing on the internet is a secret,” School Resource Officer (SRO) Jack DeAlto told West Patent Elementary School fifth graders. DeAlto, along with BCSD Director of Technology David Gee and SRO Andy Klein have been visiting some district elementary schools to discuss internet safety.

They started their talk by asking students what they like to do online, setting the tone for an open, honest conversation. Answers ranged from YouTube and Roblox to Instagram and TikTok.

“This is not a presentation to tell you these things are terrible,” DeAlto said. “We’re here to give you tips on how to be safe.”

Gee noted that it’s not legal for children under 13 to join social media, so any students with accounts had to lie to create them.

“That means anyone else can lie on their accounts too,” Gee said. “Anyone who makes an account can lie. They might talk about things that are uncomfortable or inappropriate. A good rule to follow is to talk to people you know in real life and to have conversations like you would have on the playground.”

They discussed why sharing information — even something as seemingly insignificant as their age or a photo showing a recognizable location — can be dangerous.

“With just little tidbits, people can start figuring out who you are and where to find you,” Klein said.

They told students that they should block and report strangers and to tell an adult if someone they don’t know starts talking to them or asking personal questions.

“Follow the same rules as you would with strangers in real life,” Gee said.

“If something doesn’t sound right, tell your parents right away,” DeAlto added. “You have to be careful.”

The trio also talked about the permanence of things posted on the internet, noting that some people think Snapchat is a place where they can say or send anything because it disappears. They reminded students that someone can always take a screenshot and send it to other people.

“What about a text message?” Gee asked them. “If you ask someone to delete it, is it gone?”

Students were quiet as they considered it.

“Your message goes to a cell tower, through servers and back out to the person you’re texting,” Gee said. “You can delete the text, and your friend can delete the text, but it’s saved on every computer it goes through. Once you put something out there, it never goes away.”

The conversation around texting led to discussions on bullying.

“Talking via text should be the same as talking in your classroom. You can get into trouble in school for what you say in text messages,” Gee said. “Think before you speak.”

They talked about group chats and the trouble they can cause if people are being mean or inappropriate.

“If something happens and a rumor is sent around the group, and that rumor gets out to the community, there can be big consequences,” Klein said.

Chromebooks were another topic of conversation. Gee, DeAlto and Klein made it clear that Gee can look at anything students do on their Chromebooks.

“If you search something alarming on your Chromebook, Mr. Gee and your principal will get a message to check in on you and see if you’re ok,” Klein said.

“I can see all of the websites visited and who visited them,” Gee added. To prove his point, he pulled up analytics of fifth grade internet use in the school. It showed how many sites were visited, how many blocked sites were visited, searches and more.

When students fully warmed up and recognized the talk as a safe space to discuss internet use, they had a lot of questions and anecdotes to share.

“What if you search something and you didn’t know it was blocked?”

“If you feel like a lot of people know your password, can you change it?”

“There have been like two times when someone said something inappropriate. I told my parents.”

“There was this one kid who wanted to friend me. I didn’t really know him, so I didn’t friend him.”

As the discussion drew to a close and students began to leave, a few hung back to ask Gee questions while DeAlto reminded them all, “The most important thing we’re telling you is this: all the normal precautions you would take in real life, you should take online.”

Director of Tech and SROs stand in front of a group of student for internet safety talk

 

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