Schools

Schools Host Cybercivility Forum in Wake of Profane Online Comments

Andrea Weckerle, author of "Civility in the Digital Age" and president of CiviliNation, will speak this month in Montgomery County.

Internet trolls take notice: steps to help students and adults better communicate in the digital age have kicked off this month in the Montgomery County Public Schools.

The public may attend a Cybercivility Forum from 7 to 8:30 p.m. Thursday, April 24, in the auditorium at Richard Montgomery High School, 250 Richard Montgomery Drive in Rockville. The guest speaker will be Andrea Weckerle, author of Civility in the Digital Age and president of CiviliNation, which focuses on building the capacity of individuals to communicate and engage in cyberspace in a responsible and accountable way.

At the forum, there will be a discussion about the ways members of the MCPS community can participate in the initiative and provide feedback.

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Tweets with curse words and racial slurs directed at the Montgomery Schools superintendent as he weighed whether to cancel school this winter prompted the formation of a Cybercivility Task Force that will help students and their families use social media in a positive way.

Superintendent Starr published an open letter to all MCPS parents in December about the need for a communitywide dialogue on how to teach students to be safe and civil online. Starr wrote the letter in response to several inappropriate comments that were made to him on Twitter as he was deliberating whether to close schools due to inclement weather.

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The letter can be viewed on the MCPS website, along with links to helpful resources for parents and community members.

The group will develop strategies to raise awareness of the need for cybercivility in how MCPS students and adults communicate online, says a news release. It will also guide the creation of tools for schools, parents and community members that encourage conversations about cybercivility.

For more information and to RSVP for the Cybercivility Forum, visit the Cybercivility webpage.

Also this month, the new Cybercivility Task Force met for the first time to help develop strategies, identify resources and develop tools for schools, parents and community members that encourage conversations about cybercivility. 

The task force consists of 40 students, parents, staff and community members. Its members represent a range of expertise and interests and reflect the diversity of the MCPS community.

The first meeting was held Thursday in the media center of Richard Montgomery High School. The task force meetings are open to the public and regular updates will be posted on the Cybercivility webpage.     


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