KennedaleJunior High School
has made it a goal of educating and alerting students and parents of the harmful aspects of online activity and ways to safeguard teens on and offline from physical, social and mental abuse.Digital Citizenship … {{more}}
The KJHS has two programs that it has incorporated into its curriculum and school activities. One is Digital Citizenship, which was used last month during ?Digital Citizenship Week?.
Between 60-70% of teenagers are online for 3 or more hours per day. Approximately 80% have had a negative experience that either happened to them or to someone they know. Whether it is cyber bullying or watching out for sexual predators, the magic of the internet does have its dark side.
As part of the Digital Citizenship week, the school used curriculum developed by Common Sense Media that in part focused on tips and tricks regarding social networking and teens. Students were given material to take home for parents to see, along with a Family Media Agreement in hopes that it would open a conversation between parents and students about online safety.
KJHS also has teamed up with The Women’s Center of Tarrant County to present the Play it Safe!? program to supplement the KJHS Health Curriculum and guidance lessons on Digital Citizenship. Play it Safe!? provides an evidence-informed, age-appropriate child sexual abuse prevention program for children, pre-school through 12th grade, as well as their parents, teachers and caregivers.
The Play it Safe!? curriculum teaches children how to reduce their risk of sexual and physical abuse and sexual assault. It teaches them to identify sexually abusive behavior, provides the tools they need to be safe including actions to take in threatening situations, and gives them a safe environment to disclose abuse. Play it Safe!? is taught one classroom at a time with a presentation and message tailored to each grade level, giving children a better opportunity to learn, to feel safe, to ask questions, and to come forward to disclose abuse.
In 2012, The Women?s Center partnered with the University of Texas at Arlington to establish Play it Safe!? as an evidence-informed child sexual abuse risk reduction program. During 2015-2016, the tentative plan is to have trained professionals from The Women’s Center of Tarrant County present three age-appropriate lessons to our students: Respect & Bullying, Sexting & Cyberbullying and Sexual Abuse.
KJHS Principal Michael Cagle said, “There are so many new apps out there we want to do our part in educating parents on ways they can help keep their kids safe.”
