Internet safety was the topic for discussion in the 7^th grade language arts classrooms on Dec. 3^rd.  Detective Ron Geer presented facts and statistics to students about the dangers of chat rooms, blogs, and social networking sites.

Students asked questions about what kind of information is too much information and about personal profiles on Facebook , MySpace, and other popular sites.  Det. Geer reinforced the importance of not sharing personal information and how easy it is for seemingly innocent conversations to turn into dangerous situations for children who aren’t aware.

The uses and abuses of cell phones were also a hot topic.  Text messaging has become chronic for even our middle school students, and kids were surprised about the dangers of texting and the fact that messages can be traced by law enforcement. 

The major lesson of the day was awareness.  Parents are urged to ask their children about their email accounts and look at their child’s profiles online.  Parent should visit the sites their children use to network with others on, and to keep computers in common rooms of the house so that internet activity can be monitored.