"As soon as you hit 'send,' you lose control."
This was the message to Wayne students during a Digital Citizenship presentation by Bobby Truhe, with KSB School Law last week.
Truhe gave two presentations at Wayne Community Schools on Sept. 12, the first to students in grades 5-8 and later to students in grades 9-12.
"The term 'Digital Citizenship' has many meanings, but the focus of my presentations was how the law interacts with the ever-growing amount of their lives students spend online," Truhe said.
During his time with the students, he discussed topics like bullying, discrimination, harassment, threats, and other areas where students can find trouble they weren't anticipating.
He discussed rules schools must have around these issues, many of which are required by Nebraska's student discipline and other laws. Those include discrimination and harassment around race, sex, disability, and several other areas where students think they are "just joking."
He shared several court cases, both those taking place in Nebraska and across the country. In several of these cases, the student(s) involved claimed they meant no harm and "it was just a joke."
However, Truhe emphasized that "it is never, ever a joke and schools must follow the law in dealing with those involved.
"During my presentation, which comes from the legal perspective and looks at real court cases, where judges make clear there's no such thing as "joking" about school violence or harassment," Truhe said.
During his time with high school students, he also discussed the effects of "sexting" and sending or receiving inappropriate content.
"Existing research shows as many as 1-in-3 students (probably more) will experience asking, being asked, or actually sending or receiving that type of content before they graduate high school. Many times, students receive messages or images they didn't ask for, and I challenged them to think about how they would react knowing what's at stake. Laws and cases from Nebraska and across the country tell a cautionary tail of acting on "normal" teenage impulses using apps like Snapchat," he said.
"For 9-12 graders, my overall message is that once you say it, send it, or post it, you lose all control, and what you "meant" doesn't really matter. What matters most often is how it affects others," he said.
Truhe's parting words during his time with students in fifth through eighth grade was the 'Grandma Rule.' — "If you wouldn't do it or say it in front of your grandma, don't do it online!"
