[NMScience] Wahington Post Article

[Davis Lee]

Virginia Tries to Ensure Students' Safety in Cyberspace
State-Mandated Classes on Internet Take Shape

By Theresa Vargas
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, May 3, 2008; A01



Alan Portillo didn't think much, if at all, about his online
vulnerability. Then the 15-year-old heard technology teacher Wendy
Maitland list three pieces of information an online predator would need
to find him.

Birth date, she said. Alan's age was on his e-mail.

Gender. His full name was also on his e-mail and topped his MySpace
page.

ZIP code. A photo on the page showed an area near his neighborhood, with
"Arlington" emblazoned across one building.

"I thought it was nothing. But when I saw the examples, I started
thinking, it's a big deal," the Wakefield High School freshman said.
After the February lesson, he said, he deleted the photo and his last
name from the page.

Virginia public schools will soon launch Internet safety lessons across
all grade levels, responding to a state mandate that is the first of its
kind in the nation. Even though today's students have known no life
without the Internet, only a couple of states have laws that recommend
schools teach online safety.

Maryland and the District both offer Internet safety education, but
their programs are neither mandated nor spread across all grade levels.
Sixteen technology coordinators in D.C. public schools last year
received training in Internet safety education, and the District has
plugged the topic in public service announcements. The Maryland State
Board of Education last year adopted student technology literacy
standards for elementary and middle school lessons.

In Virginia, local school systems have been rewriting policies, running
pilot programs and putting final touches on lesson plans to be offered
from kindergarten through 12th grade starting in September.

"One of the things we realized is there is no one-size-fits-all
approach," said Tammy McGraw, the Virginia Department of Education's
director of educational technology. "Ultimately what we're trying to do
is ensure we have safe and responsible Internet users."

The state's goal is to integrate safety skills into the curriculum, not
simply teach them in one lesson. An English lesson on truth and fiction,
for example, could require a paper on what information online should be
trusted.

"It's not something that we think can really be addressed by bringing
children together in an assembly," McGraw said. "We think they have to
think about it all the time."

One recent afternoon, two 15-year-old girls at Wakefield High discussed
what they learned in a pilot Internet safety class: Misunderstood text
messages can lead to hurt feelings; parents, too, can dole out too many
details online about their children; and risks abound in using social
networking sites.

Lily Pinner, a freshman, sets her MySpace page on private and lists her
age as 99. But she said a friend's 4-year-old sister recently ventured
onto the site, writing friendly messages with her name and age and
noting that she lives "in a big house."

"I said, 'You don't want to tell people that.' She said, 'Why?'" Lily
said, adding that it's hard because she doesn't want to scare the girl
but wants to keep her safe. "I said, 'Because some people aren't nice.'
"

"They still believe everyone is good and the bad guy always loses,"
added freshman Labiba Ahmed.

One in seven children ages 10 to 17 has been sexually solicited while
online, according to the National Center for Exploited and Missing
Children. Thirty-four percent of those youths also acknowledged
communicating online with individuals they did not know, and more and
more are posting personal information and photos on the Internet,
according to the organization.

"The reality is, kids have this sense of immortality and can do some
remarkably dangerous things, putting themselves at risk," said Ernie
Allen, National Center for Exploited and Missing Children's chief
executive.

He likened Internet safety classes to driver's education.

"Just like a lot of good things, there is a dark side," he said.
"Driving an automobile is a positive thing, but there are risks."

Allen said other states should follow Virginia's "pioneering" effort.
Already, he said, politicians and elected officials from other states
have contacted his organization for more information. Texas and Illinois
also passed laws to promote teaching of Internet safety.

"What we like about the Virginia model is when you mandate it, you can
be sure it's going to be done," Allen said. "We know schools have a lot
to do, but it's hard to imagine something that is more important and can
have greater impact right now."

Virginia Attorney General Robert F. McDonnell (R) has said that more
than half the world's Internet traffic flows through Virginia because
MCI and America Online operate in the state.

Del. William H. Fralin Jr. (R-Roanoke) said he introduced the Virginia
legislation, which passed in 2006, when his oldest child was 10 and had
just started using the Internet. He said his wife raised the question of
safety.

"She said, 'How do we know who he's talking to and what's going on?' and
I said, 'I don't know,' " Fralin said.

The state initiative calls for including parents. One chapter in a state
resource book covers "What Parents, Grandparents, and Caregivers Need to
Know." In Arlington, some Parent-Teacher Association chapters have heard
public service announcements on the subject. And on Thursday, parents
met at an Alexandria elementary school to talk about Internet safety.

"I tell parents this all the time, and they are horrified, but e-mail is
for old people," said Elizabeth Hoover, Alexandria's instructional
technology coordinator. "We have to raise our level of awareness for our
teachers and community members. We can't move forward without doing
that."

Charlie Makela, library services supervisor for Arlington schools, said
that people tend to think of Internet safety in terms of online
predators, but that "it's much, much more than that." It's about
cyber-bullying, copyright infringement, text messaging and social
networking.

"I don't think many children understand that if you post a picture or
information on a bulletin board, a physical bulletin board, you can take
that picture down and it's gone. If I post it on the Internet, it's
never gone," Makela said, adding they also don't realize Facebook owns
whatever items are put on its site. "We click on the
accept-the-terms-of-use agreement, but we really don't know what we're
agreeing to."

Makela said that in pilot programs at elementary, middle and high
schools, educators found the children were savvy but still had much to
learn. The challenge was finding the best way to reach each group.

"A kindergarten student might be told a virus is something that can make
you sick, where at middle school and upper levels, we would talk about
Trojan horses," Makela said.

Linda Wilkoff, a guidance counselor at Charles Barrett Elementary
School, said children were still singing songs about Internet safety
weeks after a class there ended.

To make her points to the youngsters, Wilkoff drew age-appropriate
analogies. Posting personal information is like a dinosaur footprint
that exists forever. Or like toothpaste: Once it's squeezed out of the
tube, it can't be put back in.

"One of my students said, 'You know Ms. Wilkoff, this is making me kind
of worry,' " she said. "I said, 'That's good.' "