Cyber-bullying talk tonight at Rutland Town School
11:50 a.m.
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Staff Report - Published: May 18, 2010
Rutland Town School is hosting an anti-bullying seminar for parents tonight at 6:30 p.m. in the school's library.
Over the next two days, technology safety professionals from Prevent Child Abuse Vermont will lecture to students and parents about the dangers of bullying online and how social networking can have dangerous effects for some students.
Police and cyber-bullying experts statewide say the threat for harm is real, as reports of students committing suicide after hours or months of online harassment have begun to surface in the media in the past six months.
In Vermont, 15 percent of middle- and high-school students say they are victims are or were victims of cyber-bullying, according to the 2009 Vermont Youth Risk Behavior Survey.
Nationally, about 40 percent of all students have been affected in some way by online harassment, said Kathy Kretz, a technology safety trainer and coordinator with Prevent Child Abuse Vermont, who recently presented at Rutland Intermediate School.
Rutland Town School is located at 1612 Post Road and can be reached at 775-0566.
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