How to Prevent Cyberbullying in Schools: Strategies, Tips, & Best Practices

What is cyberbullying?

Why is cyberbullying so dangerous?

Why should schools care about cyberbullying?

Are schools fighting a losing battle against cyberbullying?

Legislative initiatives to stop cyberbullying in schools

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  About Forty-nine states in the US – except for Montana – have implemented a ‘School Policy’ that mandates all schools under their jurisdiction to have formal policies to help identify cyberbullying in their schools and take necessary actions against it.
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  Forty-eight states have included cyberbullying or online harassment laws, whereas forty-four states have implemented criminal sanction for cyberbullying or electronic harassments.
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  Forty-five states have given schools legal sanction for taking necessary actions to discipline their students in the event of cyberbullying, and sixteen states have laws that allow schools to monitor off-campus cyberbullying activities of their students.

Types of Cyberbullying

Effects of Cyberbullying on Students

How is cyberbullying in schools affecting LGBT students?

How to Identify Victims and Perpetrators of Cyberbullying?

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  Nervous after receiving a text or email
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  Sudden deactivation of social media accounts
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  Secretive about online activities
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  Abrupt shutting down of computer in the middle of use
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  Avoiding friends and classmates or often seen alone
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  Frequent skipping of school
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  The continuous drop in grades; lack of interest in school work
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  Frequent falling sick or faking illness
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  Increased stress
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  Depression
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  Sudden changes in eating habits or often found eating alone
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  Unexplained weight gain or loss
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  Lost or destroyed clothing, books, electronics, or jewelry
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  Trouble sleeping at night
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  Withdrawal from interactive activities at school
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  Avoiding social events in real life
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  Unexplainable injuries
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  Talks about suicide and self-harming practices
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  Possession of guns or other self-harming weapons
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  Suicidal thoughts or suicidal attempts 

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  Using multiple online accounts
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  Excess use of device(s)
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  Gets unusually upset if they can’t use their device(s)
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  Laughing excessively while using devices and refusal to share what was funny
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  Quickly switches screens or hides their device(s)
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  Avoids discussions about what they are doing online
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  Sudden behavioral and attitude changes
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  Increasingly withdrawn or isolated
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  Making new friends with the ‘wrong crowd’
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  Demonstrates violent tendencies
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  Regular detainment for misconduct
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  Exercise power and authority over other students
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  Demonstrates increasingly insensitivity or callousness towards others
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  Having unexplainable extra money or new belongings
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  Overly concerned about reputation and popularity among peers

Solutions to stop & prevent cyberbullying in schools

Use technology to flag cyberbullying incidents

Using G Suite (Google apps for education – GAFE)

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  Log in to the G Suite Admin account.
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  Click on the “Apps” option in the dashboard.
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  Click on the “G Suite” icon.
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  Next, click on the “Gmail” option to set up the policy for emails and chats (Hangouts).

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  Click on the “Advanced settings” option
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  Select “Objectionable content” under compliances and click on “Add policy” option.
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  Enter the desired policy name.

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  Select the desired email categories to be covered under the policy.

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  Add the keywords to be flagged.

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  Add a subject line for the alert emails and click on “ADD SETTING” to create the policy and click on “Save.”

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  Policies can be applied to the entire domain or subdomain and cannot be applied to individual accounts within the domain.
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  False positives will be high, as it doesn’t take the intent and context into account.

Using third-party tools: SysCloud

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  Install SysCloud from G Suite Marketplace and create an account.
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  Log in to SysCloud.
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  Click on “Compliance”→“Create Policy.”

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  Next, click on the “CYBERBULLYING” option and choose “Create New Policy.”
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  Enter the desired policy name and click on “Next” to proceed further.

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  Select users or domains for which you want to apply the compliance.
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  Click on “Next” option.
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  Select the desired domain: G Suite, Office 365, or both.

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  Select the users for whom you want the policy to be implemented and click on “Next” to proceed further.
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  Include or exclude users by specifically mentioning their email id – if needed – and click on “Next.”

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  Customize the settings for documents and files, as shown below.

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  Click on “Next” to add customized keywords and set the risk threshold for your policy.
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  Set up the file-sharing conditions for drive documents and files to be checked for cyberbullying content.
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  Click on “Next” to set the email conditions that allow you to monitor the emails sent to external domains.

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  Set the “Real-time actions to take” when cyberbullying content gets flagged.

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  Set up the “Exception management” condition to allow or prevent users from requesting an exception for flagged content.
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  Click on “Next” to set notification alerts in the event of a violation.

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  Hit the “Finish” button to activate the policy.