Pottsgrove Updates on High School, Class Ranking, Student Suicide Policies, Purging Records and More

Tuesday's Pottsgrove School Board meeting was different from its predecessors in that ti did not last for four hours.

It was also missing two members -- Bill Parker and John Rossi -- but we have yet to draw any direct correlations between those two facts.

Ahem.

In any case, the board discussed several topics of interest, including ways to ensure the high school construction project does not delay the opening of school; how AP and Honors classes will affect class rank; new pavement needed at Pottsgrove Middle School and policies surrounding student suicide, prevention and reaction.

You can find it all in the informative Tweets below.

Cyber Dangers

It's a fast-moving world out there and nowhere are things moving faster than in the technology arena.

Sometimes it seems that the younger generation has the hang of this technology at a level beyond many parents -- and its true in some ways.

But some things never change.

Teenagers continue to minimize risk. It's not their fault. Their brains are wired that way, according to the latest studies.

So while they may thing they know everything there is to know about cuber-space, they may not know the power and potentially lasting harm of the things they do on the Internet.

But parents can get a leg up on these potential risks thanks to a program being offered by the Pottsgrove School District.

A "Community Connection Meetings," the first on Tuesday, Jan. 21 will deal with two very difficult problems made possible by Internet and specifically mobile technology: Cyber-bullying and "sexting," the practice of sharing nude or partially nude photos of oneself or others over the 'net.

The 90-minute program, which takes place at Ringing Rocks Elementary School and begins at 7 p.m., will be run by the Montgomery County Detectives bureau.

In addition to advice to parents on prevention, it will also cover issues facing specific issues facing the Pottsgrove community and its youth, specifically.

The Montgomery County bullying/cyber bullying manual will also be available.

The program is free.

A subsequent Community Connections meeting, scheduled for April 29 will also feature the Montgomery County Detectives as well as the district attorney's office, but in this case, the workshop will deal with identifying illegal drugs.

It will take place at Pottsgrove High School.

Assistant District Attorney Jason Whalley and a detective from the narcotics squad will address illegal drug trends observed in the community and signs to look for drug abuse in your child.

What You Should Know About Bullying

Blogger's Note: The following is provided by Beth Trapani and was written by Pottsgrove Middle School Principal Bill Ziegler about  Jan. 29 school session for parents about bullying.

At tonight’s Community Connection meeting, Deb McCoy, an expert on Bullying, shared with parents how to recognize bullying and be proactive in addressing it with their children.

Ms. McCoy started by saying that “bullying is not a student making fun of another student on the playground”

“Instead, bullying is an intentional repeated act to do harm to another student.”

An excellent website to learn more about bullying is http://www.stopbullying.gov/ 

This government site provides rich resources on how to talk with your kids about bullying.

Deb shared that the three types of bullying are: Physical, Social, and Emotional. Cyber-bullying is often a piece of the social and emotional type of bullying.

The number one form of Cyberbullying is text messaging with Facebook as second, Instagram, Twitter, and other social media sites follow right after Facebook.

Texting is a leading form of communication for students starting as young as nine years old. 

Deb McCoy talks at the Pottsgrove bullying seminar.

Deb claims that the average female adolescent sends 4,700 texts per month and 3,700 for males.

Digital reputations – students create their digital reputations through social media sites and anything that is posted on the web. Colleges, universities, and employers are combing the internet to identify your digital reputation. 

This material is used to identify your character, history, and reputation. Deb challenged us toconsider the question, “What does your digital reputation say about you?”

“Parents need to monitor and manage our children’s digital life as we manage and monitor their physical life,” she said. 

The website http://www.uknowkids.com/ is a parenting digital intelligence system that allows parents to closely monitor their child’s phone, web, and personal digital use.

Parents can track text messages, Facebook updates, and a myriad of other digital media.