Clarkstown North Students Rally Against Cyberbullying

Local officials and school representatives gathered at Clarkstown High School North Friday for a presentation on the dangers of cyberbullying. The program was part of Cablevision’s Education Initiative, Power to Learn, and its Internet Smarts program.

Cyberbullying, according to the program, is bullying that uses electronic devices. It includes everything from posting disparaging comments or photos on social networking sites like Facebook, to texting rumors about others, to “sexting,” or sending sexually explicit messages to others over mobile devices.      

“We found most of the issues that occur in school really occur either outside the school or on the Internet, and then come inside the school, so if we can be proactive and the stop it at the source, then it’ll be a better school environment for us,” Clarkstown North Principal Harry Leonardatos said during the program.

The Internet Smarts program, the signature component of Power to Learn, provides resources for students, parents, and teachers to encourage safe and ethical uses of the Internet. The initiative includes a Family Resource Guide that answers common questions about Internet use, interactive case studies on issues such as music downloading and copyright along with cyberbullying, and classroom demonstrations, among other things. Part of the program also focuses on community outreach, of which the program at North was a part.

Trent Anderson, vice president of education for Cablevision, noted how much these issues have changed since the program first began.

“We’ve been doing Internet safety work in schools for over seven years,” Anderson said. “When we started, illegal music downloading was a big topic … Over time the issues have evolved on the Internet. What’s the most important is cyberbullying right now ... So we’re trying to get out in front of it and make sure that kids think before they  post and that they stop bullying other students.”

The event consisted of presentations by various student groups and organization at Clarkstown North, and it concluded with a brief Q & A, moderated by Anderson that allowed students to question state Sen. David Carlucci, D-New City,  Assemblyman Kenneth Zebrowski, D-New City, and Clarkstown town Supervisor Alex Gromack.

After some opening remarks by Leonardatos, who himself admitted to being bullied as a teenager, Anderson spoke about his 13-year-old son’s experience being bullied, and how his 16-year-old son helped defuse the situation. This indeed was one of the themes expressed by both Zebrowski and Gromack in their opening remarks that followed — that while officials can pass laws punishing those who commit acts of cyberbullying, it is up to the students to take ownership of this issue and stop these acts at their core, perhaps by telling a teacher, parent, or police officer about any witnessed acts of bullying.

“The students just never cease to amaze me,” Carlucci said. “They did an outstanding job, and they’re the real leaders that will make an impact on this. By them stepping up and putting all the work that they did … it’s really outstanding, and they’re to be commended. It’s an honor and a privilege  to serve them, and I look forward to working with them to se e how in the Legislature I can work to make sure that we safeguard this.”

The first two student presenters, Student Council Vice President Jordan Naft and Vice President Zoe Zaiss, noted in fact that 58 percent of those who are bullied do not report it. So Naft and Zaiss decided to set up “bully boxes” throughout the school where students can anonymously drop notes reporting acts of bullying that they have witnessed or faced themselves. The two also discussed the “Antibullying Week” that they are planning for the week of April 4. Each day will have a particular theme, like “Peace, Love and Happiness Day”, where students are encouraged to dress like hippies, and “Dress Like Your Hero” day.

Various other student presentations and performances followed. Both the Clarkstown High School North varsity cheerleading squad and the dance team, fresh off a performance at halftime of the Knicks-Nets basketball game, got the crowd involved in their acts. The cheer squad spelled out the word “cyberbully” and eventually led the audience in a “Don’t Bully” chant. The dance team, meanwhile, performed to the Black Eyed Peas’ song “One Tribe,” which includes lyrics like “We are one people/ Let’s cast amnesia and forget about all that evil,” according to the lyric sheet provided in the show’s program. By the end the dancers along with the cheerleaders were leading the crowd in a chant of “One tribe, one people.”

Another interesting presentation came from Valerie Champeau from North’s College Psychology class through Syracuse University Project Advance. The presentation came in the form of statistics gathered by the class, such as how only 10 percent of parents of North students monitor their children’s Internet use.

Champeau also discussed in particular the social networking website Formspring, where students set up profiles and others can anonymously ask them questions. This website has ultimately led to cyberbullying of many students who face questions on topics that they do not want to discuss. Champeau said the class found that more than 50 percent of the students who had Formspring had had someone post hurtful comments/questions about them on the web site. Thus the class found that many upperclassmen deleted their Formspring accounts after sophomore year because they caused so much drama.

But despite these wide array of performances, Anderson hoped that in fact the lasting impression of the event would be not the presentations themselves but all the talking among the students that led up to it.

“What we saw today was the end project of months of discussion and preparation. The best thing about these Internet safety presentations is the discussion that it creates leading up to it, because that’s where the real learning and compassion occurs.”