News Talk 94.1/AM 1600 Where The Upper Cumberland Talks
Hoping to upgrade student learning about the dangers of the online world, White County will partner with the Upper Cumberland Child Advocacy Center on expanding safety curriculum to older students.
The curriculum is tied to Erin’s Law, passed in 2014. It encourages school systems to provide age-appropriate instruction to students on personal body safety and how to report sexual abuse. Family Resource Center Director Beverly Dronebarger said the current instruction really centers on the youngest children.
“As they got older and recognizing that there is a real need now in the area of digital citizenship, social media, just kids on computers and gaming,” Dronebarger said. “And so I reached out to some of our neighboring counties and they are using the Child Advocacy Center.”
Advocacy Center staff will spend one day with each class, with counselors present. Those counselors will then follow through on the teaching in the weeks and months that follow.
“I have found, especially when they get to this level and I’m working with my students, a lot of them get caught up online with like, whether they’re playing games or they’re on Snapchat, social media, they don’t know what the law is really<" Dronebarger said. "And so when you make them aware, you know, of like, you don't really know who this person is. And it's against the law for you to send a photo like this, and it's against the law for them to ask for it." Director Of Schools Kurt Dronebarger said another factor in updating the approach to the subject, the number of students who report problems online including reports through the system's StopIt App. "They're about ways that children are being harassed online, or they're being just being, maybe I've used the word bullied, but they're just being aggravated, harassed in a number of different ways or upset," Kurt Dronebarger said. "And so we realized we need to do a better job of teaching our students on how to deal with those things from a digital standpoint. And that's what this curriculum does, is it moves up through the grade levels. It focuses more on that side of things." Parents will know about the sessions and will have the chance to opt out.
