Student Safety

How unsafe can the internet be?

According to Lucas (2013), being an overprotective parent and blocking websites does NOT keep children safe online. Educating our students is the key to safely patrolling the internet. Below are three tips that parents can use to educate their children about internet safety. To see rules for online safety, click this link: http://www.safekids.com/kids-rules-for-online-safety/.

  1. Get parents involved. Keep them informed of the potential dangers online. How? Just be sure to provide facts and have evidence when presenting those facts. Take a glance at the image below. It provides some interesting details.
  2. Provide resources to your students. Make sure they are informed while avoiding a long lecture. One way would be to show them a video about being safe online.
  3. Role play. Create fake scenarios that could be potentially dangerous in nature. Present the scenarios to the class with students playing each role. The purpose of these scenarios is allowing students to make their own decisions with your guidance. This will provide students with knowledge and the importance of safely browsing the internet.

8 tips for email safety (Rudick, 2011):

  1. Have more than one email address. Use one for purchases when you know the computer is secure and another email address for personal communication. It is also recommended to have another for school/work.
  2. Do not email credit card data.
  3. Be cautious of emails containing attachments from strangers.
  4. Have strong passwords.
  5. Never email passwords, financial information, social security number, or date of birth.
  6. Limit access to your email address.
  7. Do not forward chain emails.
  8. CC or Bcc to groups of people and never to reply to all if it should be to one person.

Another issue we face is cyberbullying. Cyberbullying is using technology to bully a person by sending them threatening emails or texts messages. Teaching students how to correctly handle situations that occur is very crucial. Whether at home or school, being aware of cyber bullying is an effective way to understand another important internet and email safety tip. This link, https://www.stopbullying.gov/kids/index.html, is a student-friendly resource that provides videos about games that relate to cyber bullying.


Another good resource about cyberbullying is https://www.stopbullying.gov/. This website not only provides facts about cyberbullying, but also provides laws and policies by state, prevention training, and information for parents, teachers, students. This resource is definitely one of the most trusted.