Virginia To Teach Its Students ‘Internet Safety’

A pioneering effort in the state of Virginia aims to teach students safe and simple use of  the internet, as the students of this generation will be the very first to have it available for their entire lives.

The remarkable ability of the internet to educate, entertain, and enable instant communication is something that must be exploited by students, but the ability of interaction to cause damage must be articulated as well.

"Today’s student will be the first generation to use the Internet for their entire lives. This unprecedented access to resouces will enhance their learning, research, communications, explorations for new ideas, and expressions of creativity. [But] unfortunately, this remarkable resource has [also] become susceptible to abuse that often targets young people," according to the new program’s implementation guidelines.

In a recent presentation at a suburban high school in Virginia, Gene Fishel, the state’s assistant attorney general, demonstrated to parents the kinds of real life hazards kids can sometimes face on the Web.

Fishel showed a profile on a social networking site of a supposed 15-year-old girl who says that she’s interested in meeting new people, and that she "likes boys." Yet the actual person behind the profile turns out to be a 31-year-old man who’s now serving a 45-year prison term for sexually abusing 11 children he met on the Internet.

Virginia’s new Internet safety program, which took effect this school year, is based on legislation first passed by the 2006 General Assembly and then signed by Virginia Governor Tim Kaine.

The new law adds a requirement that "acceptable Internet use" policies already developed by division school superintendents must now include a component on Internet safety for students, created "in alignment with guidelines" set by the state’s superintendent of public instruction. Virginia’s Department of Education then reviews the policies for compliance.

But Virginia’s new "acceptable Internet use" policies are also required to keep up with current state and federal legislation, which might at any time add new stipulations mandating filtering technologies or banning certain kinds of Web sites from access in schools, for instance.

Forewarned is forearmed, so good luck to the schools of Virginia, and educators in other states, take notice.

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[tags] Virginia, education, internet safety, acceptable use policies [/tags]