“Administrators don’t realize that this happens,” Greer says. “They are shocked to find that kids are communicating with strangers in games and on chats.”

Greer became involved with Internet Safety during her time with the Massachusetts State Police and the Massachusetts Attorney General’s office, after she noticed an increase in cases that involved children and the Internet. As a result Greer helped to develop an Internet Safety program for students in Massachusetts.

“It got a ton of attention from press and from schools all around the country so I eventually went off and started doing this on my own,” she explains.

She now travels the country giving presentations to students of all ages that cover stranger danger as well as cyberbullying. Although the latter is a major concern, Greer feels that students connecting with strangers online is an issue that often flies under the radar.

“There’s this false sense of security that kids have about talking to people online,” she says. “It’s not as imminently threatening as a stranger you might see on the street, but I think it’s important to break that down. In a couple of clicks they can get GPS information, geotags and IP information. Things like that make them just as dangerous.”

The Solution

So what should schools do? The answer to that question isn’t as clear-cut as we might like.

“I think everybody is looking for a special tool that is going to combat all of these things, but I think education is the best tool,” Greer says. “The biggest thing is awareness and constant conversation around the topic.”

Schools need to take a layered approach to safety, which means implementing a combination of technology and education that promote digital safety. Whether districts opt to bring in a guest speaker or design a digital safety course, it’s important to stress best practices for Internet safety and to address specific dangers. It’s also a good idea to create a culture where students feel comfortable reporting things they might see or turning to a teacher or administrator for help. Greer suggests creating a box where student can drop off an anonymous note to report any incidents or concerns. It’s a simple approach that she has seen work with great success for other schools.

“Students are a lot more likely to report an incident if they aren’t going to get in trouble for it, or if they don’t think they’re going to be chastised by their classmates,” Greer says. “I really like that approach.”

 

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