It was the first time in the district’s history that a threat had been made against the school and panic quickly set in. On the day of the supposed bombing, school remained open, although less than 10 percent of the school’s population attended and those who did were greeted with metal detectors, bomb squad dogs and police officers. The school was certainly trying to send a message: we will not bow down to unsubstantiated threats. But another message emerged as well. Could someone really be capable of harming the family?

Fast forward more than decade later and now administrators are not looking for warning signs etched on desks or on the bathroom walls, but rather posts and status updates shared via Facebook, Twitter and other social media avenues.

Just this week, two West Haven High School students, a junior and a sophomore, were arrested and expelled from school after teachers reportedly found tweets earlier this month in which the junior referenced placing a bomb in a locker and the sophomore wrote about shooting himself and others. Despite both students contending that the messages were meant as jokes, the teens are now facing felony charges, according to Sgt. Dave Tammaro.

“The two happened so close together that we thought someone needs to say to these kids that if you post something, you’re going to be held responsible,” Tammaro said Monday, adding that the names and ages of the students would not be released because they are juveniles.

According to Principal Pamela Gardner, the school is working with police to prevent instances like these from occurring again by holding programs to educate parents about the dangers of social media.

“I think kids don’t really think when they post on Twitter, and it’s really important that kids understand that what they write on any social media, they’re held accountable for, even if it’s tongue-in-cheek because you can’t get the meaning across — you don’t know if it’s sarcasm or how it was intended,” Gardner said.

“And so I think that what is really important is that kids and parents are really aware of how social media is impacting our students’ lives,” she added.

Gardner’s last sentiment couldn’t be more dead on. Students may think that Facebook and Twitter musings are written in jest (particularly when they belittle their classmates and deride their buddies), but the truth is that everything that is said lives on in cyberspace and becomes permanent. As we saw in the recent Tyler Clementi case in which Dharun Ravi was accused of allegedly recording Tyler’s intimate moments with another male and streaming it across the Internet, the prosecution was ultimately able to turn to Ravi’s Twitter account and use previous posts as damaging evidence.

Individuals, especially students, need to start understanding that specific social media use is now being deemed illicit, and posts that was were meant to elicit humor are now being taken a whole lot more seriously.

On the other side of things, administrators and police also need to be aware that for every student that is joking on Twitter about hurting himself or others, there is a student who is speaking the truth. So let us make sure we call out those kids who are crying wolf and also find the ones who really are crying wolf before it is too late. Let’s not ignore the rants and raves in the social media stratosphere.

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A New Major is in Town and its name is Social Media - Apr 12, 2012

Is Anything Sacred on Social Networking Sites? - Mar 09, 2012

The Dangers of the Twitter, Facebook Streams - Mar 06, 2012

For those who have not been paying close attention to the trial of Ravi, here is a brief recap. In 2010, the world stood aghast as 18-year-old Tyler Clementi, a freshman at Rutgers University, jumped to his death after being the victim of online bullying. It all came to a head when an intimate moment between Clementi and another male was surreptitiously taped by Ravi and streamed over the Internet. Since then, the trial of Ravi – who was convicted of bias intimidation, witness tampering, hindering arrest and numerous other charges – has charged forward at full steam, and much of the evidence that has been uncovered has been troubling. This past March, Ravi was found guilty of invasion of privacy and hate crimes that resulted in Tyler’s suicide.

This morning, as the 20-year-old was handed his sentence, he reportedly did not speak but let his mother do the talking for him.

"The media was ripping him apart with their misleading facts ... He was absolutely devastated and broken into pieces,” she said, referring to her son as "kind-hearted and loving," reported the Newark Star-Ledger.

Judge Glenn Berman told the court on Monday "I do not believe he hated Tyler Clementi. He had no reason to, but I do believe he acted out of colossal insensitivity."

The case has evoked a flood emotions – from the individuals who feel Ravi deserves punishment and suffering for the pain he inflicted on Tyler to the others who muse he was merely an immature teenager at the time who should not be punished so severely.

But for the Clementi family, their sentiments came across loud and clear.

According to reports, Tyler’s father, Joseph, said of Ravi: “He had no call to do what he did. Tyler never did anything to Mr. Ravi to cause him harm." Ravi's actions were the result of his seeing Tyler "as someone not deserving basic human decency and respect, because my son was different from him [and] because he was gay,” he said.

Echoed Joseph’s wife, Jane, Ravi's actions were "mean-spirited, they are evil and, most important, they are against the law." She added, "The court needs to show ... this was not right, and it was not acceptable behavior, and it will not be tolerated."

While I must acknowledge that both families are hurting at this time, and that some might feel that Ravi’s sentencing is a bit harsh, it is every bit deserved – especially as we see that instances of cyberbullying and teenage suicide are becoming more common by the day.

In fact, stats show that suicide is the third leading cause of death among young people, resulting in about 4,400 deaths per year, according to the CDC. And, for every suicide among young people, there are at least 100 suicide attempts. Every few weeks we hear of another student who either takes his/her life because of bullying or of a student who decides to finally fight back. But at what point can we curb this cycle? At what point will children finally understand that cyberbullying, and any form of victimization, is not only downright wrong, it can be illegal.

I hope that Ravi’s sentencing serves as a wakeup call to all the bullies out there that this behavior is not only highly upsetting, but illicit at times. The cycle needs to be broken at some point. Let’s hope that Ravi’s punishment is a step in the right direction.

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Welcome to the Hallway - Jun 14, 2011

The Dangers of the Twitter, Facebook Streams - Mar 06, 2012

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In a new report produced by CarrerCast.com, positions ranging from a dental hygienist to an online advertising manager to a Web developer to an industrial machine repairer made the list of top 20 jobs you can nab sans diploma. And if it’s really true that you can earn $87,000 on average as an online advertising manger – without having to sit through stuffy college lectures about branding and keyword ad placement – then why fork over the almost $120,000 it costs to earn that advertising marketing degree when research is showing you have a great chance of landing that job anyways?

Because unless you are the Steve Jobs’s or Mark Zuckerberg’s of the world, you may have a hard time proving your worth with no education to back it.

Interestingly enough, I was out to dinner with a few friends the other night and this very topic about whether college is paramount for success came up. In the interest of full disclose, I should note that one of my friends who was part of the discussion is a teacher and I am the daughter of a teacher. Here was a point that was argued.

Following high school graduation, if an 18-year-old can get offered an incredible starting job at a software development company he has lusted after for the better part of his life without ever stepping into an Organization of Programming Languages class, who is to say he shouldn’t go for it? Especially, if he can manage to make $30,000 a year as a starting salary. You do the math; in the four years it takes his friends to graduate, he has already earned what it costs most college kids to finish school.

Here’s the problem: At a certain point that individual will most likely hit a cross roads, when either his lack of education keeps him from becoming truly credible or when his lack of education handicaps his potential earnings. Don’t believe me? Then consider the following.

The average American worker with a four-year degree will make approximately $1 million more during his or her career, according to CareerCast.com. Moreover, Bureau of Labor Statistics data demonstrates that the average starting salary for someone with a college degree is $51,000, while a job for which no degree is required starts out at about $28,350.

So, do you take the college route and hope that huge upfront investment will pay off? Or do you dive right into the entrepreneurial swimming pool and trust that street/people smarts is more important than book smarts.

I honestly think it’s up the individual. For some, attending college right after high school means “guessing” at which major will give you success and opting for that path; it has little to do with actual interest or passions. Perhaps for these kids, a dose of the real world might be the better route first. Let these teens experience internships, abroad opportunities and apprenticeships to see where their strengths lie, with the intention of going back to college soon.

And for others, college may simply never be the right route to take. Just look at Mark Zuckerberg who created a billion dollar empire.

My advice is simple: take the route that will ultimately help you reach your dreams, keeping in mind that a college education has been, and always will be, paramount in today’s economy. It is never too late to go back to school and the team-oriented, challenging environment will prepare you for the real world in ways you can never imagine. 

Give college, in some fashion, a chance at some point if you can; the road to learning is long and should never end.

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Calling All College Students - Want a Tech Internship at TMC? - May 15, 2012

A New Major is in Town and its name is Social Media - Apr 12, 2012

Facebook Timeline: Forced to Relive Our Past? - Jan 26, 2012

Are Students Introduced to Technology Way Too Early? - Nov 29, 2011

The Not-So Ugly Side of Facebook - Jun 30, 2011

Comments on this Entry:

(Company on May 23, 2012 5:03 AM)

I think that this question has been asked by all of us, students and our parents! And I have been so many times on the verge of dropping out, because the thought of the growing debt and not such a big usage of the final diploma, were just some of my inner problems. But at the end of the day is true, that unless you do not have an unique idea for the next new fad, you are prone to have not that good of a starting salary. It is true that prob if you do not do what I did and directly go to college straight from the high school and then realize you do not like the major you have chosen!

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Well, bad news for you current college grads and underclassmen: a recent CBS report stated that half of recent college graduates cannot land full time jobs. Even worse, a study by Rutgers University found more than a quarter of recent grads (27 percent) said their jobs have them working below the level of their education. And, if I didn’t depress you enough already, the median salary for recession-era grads in their first job is $27,000, about $3,000 less than those who graduated before the recession began.

But there is no reason to start pounding back bottles of wine or crying to your parents that their tuition dollars will be for naught, because you are capable of being in that other 50 percent – the 50 percent who are gainfully employed upon graduating. And I’ll tell you how.

It all starts with a killer internship. I am not talking about Wall Street (though if you can get it, go for it). I am just talking about an internship that will allow you to sink your teeth into lots of tasks, wear a lot of different hats, and build up a real relationship with your boss or CEO (so that they know more about you than just the fact that you are working for free at their company). With the economy still reeling, businesses everywhere are dying for free (or cheap) labor, so internships are plentiful and you are the prime candidate.

Set your eyes on the place you want and dive in head first. Send your resume, reach out to those already working at the company, and get ready for a 9 to 5 summer that doesn’t involve tanning during the weekdays. And, if you are really smart, you will choose something in the technology, architecture, accounting or computer science fields because apparently that’s where the jobs will be after graduation.

According to that same survey cited by CBS, employers are reportedly more likely to hire graduates with engineering (69 percent), business (63 percent), accounting (53 percent) or computer science degrees (49 percent). Why, you might ask? Because technology is booming, especially as companies look to cut corners and realize cost savings. (And because business and accounting majors will always be in hot demand since capitalism isn’t going anywhere).

Now is the time for all college grads and underclassmen to try something out of their comfort zone, or go for their dream job/internship if it is a possibility. Pad that resume with some real life experience, give 150 percent to the job, and network the hell out of the experience while you are there. I can’t promise you that you will be employed days after graduating, but your hard work and hands on experience will give you enough confidence and direction to shoot for the stars.

Here’s a shameless plug: Come join our TMCnet team this summer. We can promise you unparalleled experience, kind faces, and a supervisor who will know more than just your name .

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Just How Valuable is that College Diploma? - May 17, 2012

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Well, college campuses today have a contagious cheating epidemic that is quickly spreading, and is only exacerbated by the availability of smartphones and other technologies in class. In fact, according to a recent infographic produced by onlinecollegecourse.com, 75 percent of coeds admit to cheating at least once during their undergraduate career; 90 percent believe that cheaters won’t get caught; and 85 percent say cheating is necessary to getting ahead.

So how are students making all of this cheating possible? It’s all thanks to their good ol’ trusty iPhones and BlackBerrys, of course. Some of the main ways college students use these devices to cheat are: by texting someone in or outside the class for answers; looking up answers on the phones during bathroom breaks; using a cell phone to take a photo of the test for others; and whipping out their cell phone during the test to check notes saved on the device. Students are also saving notes and formulas on their graphing calculators and being so sneaky as to write notes on the inside brim of baseball caps, have other students take the exam in their place and scribbling down cheat sheets on the inside label of water or soda bottles. Seems like a lot of work when you could just opt to learn the calculus equations yourself, right?

And as students remain glued to their smartphones, teachers need to become a little bit savvier when it comes to catching cheaters, from creating different exams for each student to requesting photo IDs for test takers in large seminar classes, to using software that can detect plagiarism on written essays.  

As much as teachers want to crack down on cheaters – and as much as cheaters should be ashamed about their ways– ultimately, the only person a cheater is harming is him or herself.  For every time a student skimps on completing a reading assignment for his major or asks his buddy to write his thesis paper instead of choosing to articulate his thoughts himself, he is only limiting the scope of what he will learn before he enters the real world.

And newsflash to all your students out there; the real world doesn’t tolerate cheaters. The real world won’t stand for you BS-ing your way through your work assignments or giving 50 percent to your tasks. So better to abandon those cheating tendencies now. I guarantee your co-worker won’t be so willing to finish that sales report for you in exchange for something else.

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AT&T Moves Up the School Popularity Chain - Apr 10, 2012

A Teacher's Aide to Catch a Cheater - Mar 22, 2012

The New Kid on Campus - Jun 28, 2011

Industry Awaits Apple's Big Education Announcement Thursday - Jan 17, 2012

Text Messages in Class Saving Lives - Oct 20, 2011

All Aboard My Education Nostalgic Train - Sep 20, 2011

Amazon Student App Outdoing College Bookstores - Aug 18, 2011

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Earlier this month, Alex used an untraditional approach to stand up to her alleged tormentors; she handed them a libel lawsuit. So what led her down this path? Alex contends that when she moved to her Atlanta middle school, she immediately knew she was an outsider, as evidenced by the harsh glances and caustic comments. However, it wasn’t until she went to Facebook that she learned the bullying had left the school hallways and entered cyber space.

As put by Alex, a fake Facebook page had been set up under her name and personal information. On the page, her profile picture had been doctored to make her face appear fatter and the profile also implied that Alex smoked marijuana and made up a language called “Retardish.” The classmates also allegedly left comments on other schoolmates’ pages that were supposedly from Alex – comments that were lewd in nature and contained traces of racism.

“I was upset that my friends would turn on me like that,” Alex told The Associated Press. “I was crying. It was hard to go to school the next day.”

While states work to craft the appropriate verbiage for cyberbullying laws, the wake of many recent suicides that were caused by bullying as well as the rise of high profile cases like Phoebe Prince and Tyler Clementi have led parents to take action before the matter gets even more tragic. In the case of Alex that is exactly what her family did and experts predict that lawsuits like these will only become more ubiquitous as problems with bullying persist.

“A lot of prosecutors just don’t have the energy to prosecute 13-year-olds for being mean,” said Parry Aftab, an attorney and child advocate who runs stopcyberbullying.org. “Parents are all feeling very frustrated, and they just don’t know what to do.”

In Alex’s case, frustration was endless as the family learned of the phony Facebook page a year ago and contacted administrators at the school and filed a report with Cobb County Police. The police suggested that Alex contact Facebook to have the site taken down but Alex said despite requests to the social networking giant, it was not actually brought down until the lawsuit was filed.

For some, the thought of a 14-year-old suing her classmates for libel might seem a bit extreme. After all, 14-year-olds are still children at the end of the day that will make mistakes, stumble and exhibit signs of ignorance. But I would counter that unless you are the one who is the victim of cyberbullying, it is hard to imagine just how harrowing this situation can be. And who is to say that your reputation at such a precious age shouldn’t be sacrosanct.

The issue of whether you should be able to sue a minor for bullying is a tricky one. Most importantly, how does one determine at what age a bully’s actions could actually be chalked up to age and just not enough life experience or education to know better? Specifically, should a seven-year-old be punished for writing something defaming on the bathroom walls about a classmate?

On the other hand, our kids are growing up today in one of the most frightening times, in which a child’s reputation can be tarnished with the stroke of the mouse and the repercussions can be far worse than a child just crying to his/her parents. I will never know what Alex is experiencing and since I am not yet a mother I cannot imagine the fury I would feel towards a school and police department that appeared to not defend my child. So, I won’t pass judgment. Instead I will hope for better – hope that parents can continue to teach kids right from wrong and teach them just how ugly their words and actions can be.

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The Fight Against Cyberbullying: A Step in the Right Direction - Jan 05, 2012

The New Playground for Bullying - Jun 21, 2011

A Ways to Go... - Dec 13, 2011

The Rise of Cyberbullying Puts Greater Emphasis on Anti-Bullying Assemblies - Sep 30, 2011

The Not-So Ugly Side of Facebook - Jun 30, 2011

Welcome to the Hallway - Jun 14, 2011

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While I am certainly not here to give you advice on the first two (mostly because I know you will, without a doubt, make sure to play your last game of Flip Cup before summer), I will – as an older and wiser college graduate – shed some light on how to nail your finals.

The end of the school year is tough, no doubt. The weather is finally warming up, the prospect of seeing all your high school buddies is exhilarating and that feeling of “well I won’t see these people for three months” justifies all your actions those last few weeks. After all, college is one big slumber party and the parents never come home.

But you must be careful to not forget about those few tests that creep up at the end of the semester, along with your excessive hangovers – your finals. Although the thought of spending hours cooped up in the library, or worse your un-air-conditioned off campus house, might seem like a nightmare, these critical hours can really be life changing.

Let’s face it, if you are a senior who got a 3.7 first semester and has already secured a job after graduation, you might be thinking, “Who really cares if I bomb my finals?” Well, for starters, your future grad school might. I cannot tell you how many of my peers slacked off those last few days of college, tanked their finals, and paid for it a few years later when they tried to apply to grad school and their senior year GPA was much lower than their underclassmen GPAs.  And for all you underclassmen, don’t think that a place you hope to secure an internship with will look favorably on your less than stellar grades.

So, to my struggling, partying-addicted college friends, here are a few tips to get you through these next few days.

Just Say No to Facebook

Facebook is perhaps your biggest adversary these final days as you are probably much more excited about the party invite you just got for the Cinco de Mayo bash then you are about cramming for Chem. So, do yourself a favor. Limit your Facebook time.

Don’t have the self discipline? Then try Facebook Limiter, a site that helps you block Facebook for a period of time for free. You can block Facebook for specific time durations or control your access on a daily basis. It may sound extreme, but no one will judge you for doing it, especially since they are Facebook abusers just as much as you.

Refrain from Twitterville

Twitter is just as bad if not worse for you than Facebook during this critical juncture of time in your college career as it appears less offensive so you are more apt to frequent the site. You will certainly feel less guilty about quickly checking your Twitter feed every few minutes to see who has updated, because it is less interactive and time-consuming as Facebook.  

But what about your friends who Tweet that they are meeting at your local pub for burger night? Or what about current explosion on Twitter surrounding Jessica Simpson’s birth? – yes, she finally gave birth. Simply put, the Twitter world can wait. If anything is truly earth shattering, I assure you someone will contact you in person.

Hide Your Cell Phone

As strong as you might be to say no to Facebook and Twitter for a few days, none of that does you any good when you have the apps available right on your smartphone. From instant messaging apps to email notifications to games, your cell phone is one of the nosiest distracters of all –with its constant pings, chimes and bells.

Of course a college coed feels totally lost without his/her cell phone so I am by no means advising you to “lose” your phone or ask a friend to babysit it for the time being. Rather, I am asking you to devote a few hours of your day to your studies and put your phone in another room. The “freeness” you feel will truly be liberating.

So students; happy studying! You will thank me when you get those A’s and I guarantee that you can still find time for that rousing game of Flip Cup after your finals.

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A New Major is in Town and its name is Social Media - Apr 12, 2012

Is Anything Sacred on Social Networking Sites? - Mar 09, 2012

The Dangers of the Twitter, Facebook Streams - Mar 06, 2012

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While computers have long graded tests (think multiple-choice standardized tests), the technology is now making a run for teachers’ jobs as some schools are beginning to enlist the help of computers to grade essays; and some experts are contending that the computer can do just as good a job as humans, maybe even better. But don’t fear just yet my teacher friends!

A recent study performed at the University of Akron sent more than 16,000 essays from both middle school and high school tests through automated systems developed by nine companies. The essays, from six different states, had originally been graded by humans. The results? Computer scoring produced “virtually identical levels of accuracy with the software in some cases proving to be more reliable,” according to a University of Akron news release.

"In terms of consistency, the automated readers might have done a little better even," The New York Times Education Columnist Michael Winerip said in a recent article.

So what kind of red pen does the computer use when grading essays? According to the survey, the computer combs through the essay to search for sentence structure, word usage, subject-verb agreement and syntax. Where the computer lacks, however, is in comprehension and determining whether a sentence is factually accurate or not. I mean does the computer really know that “Jane Eyre” wasn’t actually a book about a high school cheerleader who went to great lengths to date the captain of the football team? And when it comes to creative writing such as rhetoric or poetry, perhaps the computer needs to go back to the basics as the research showed that the computer slacked in these areas.

But what the computer lacks in comprehension and prose it makes up for in efficiency as automated readers can grade 16,000 essays in about 20 seconds, as compared to the average teacher who might spend an entire weekend grading 150 essays.

There are so many ways though that automated grading can go wrong, beyond the obvious limitations pointed out in the above. Most importantly, it hampers the students/teacher interaction which is most often fostered when a child writes an out-of-this-world essay or when a child is struggling and needs a little extra TLC. By reading each student’s easy, teachers learn about their students’ strengths and weaknesses and also get to sit by and watch the beauty of a student discovering his voice unfold.

If you deny teachers the ability to see their students grow, you will lose one of the very essences that make education so special. Some of my most favorite moments in high school and college were going over papers with my teachers and professors, arguing over themes, nuances and plot development.

There is certainly a place for automated graders, particularly when it comes to the multiple choice portions of standardized tests, but even multiple choice tests in the classroom should get the eye of a teacher. I would imagine there is no greater gift than a teacher seeing his student improve leaps and bounds and a student feeling as though his teacher really has a vested interest in him.

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With Missing Kids on the Rise, Schools Revisit Notification Policies - Apr 24, 2012

AT&T Moves Up the School Popularity Chain - Apr 10, 2012

SAT Cheating Scandal Paves Way for Stricter ID Process - Mar 27, 2012

Has School Plagiarism Gotten a Whole Lot Easier? - Jul 14, 2011

Fear No More: Technology Platform Brings Financial Literacy to Schools - Jun 16, 2011

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For some of you (and for the lucky ones), summer will mean a time in which you can throw dodge balls, compete in Color War games and chaperone camp socials, as you are still young enough where it is not totally frowned upon to spend the glorious summer days outside, basking in the sun as a camp counselor. (I must put a plug in here, however, that it is never too early to start grabbing summer internships because then what type of seasoned college graduate would I be?)

And, for a good majority of you twenty-somethings, the start of summer will mean a cold hard introduction to a season filled with mindless tasks such as filing, coffee runs and administrative work –the glorified life of an unpaid college intern.

But for the few of you who can now legally drink, you are hopefully embarking on a season full of job searches, interviews or, if you are lucky, real work as you say goodbye to your familiar college quads and hello to the post grad life.  And while the post grad life has a lot to offer – your first real pay check, a sense of accomplishment and a cushy living situation at Mom and Dad’s – it should also serve as a wakeup call asking if you are ready to compete in this Real World.

I recently came across a great article from U.S. News that was targeted at recent college grads and included five critical steps they should take to make sure their online reputation is in order, particularly as they dive head first into the job application pool. It’s a post worthy of sharing and examining.

The five steps, according to the post, are to Google yourself (to see what comes up); claim your domain name and build a personal website (mostly so no other John Smith’s can steal your domain); set up profiles on Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter (and not just to share your thoughts of the “Real Housewives of New Jersey” but to promote some of your best work); do some basic search engine optimization (link all your online content together); and sign up for alerts (so you know when others are talking about you).

“Job-seekers who take charge of their own online reputations will benefit in the long run,” Miriam Salpeter, a job search and social media consultant, career coach, author, speaker, resume writer, and owner of Keppie Careers, explains in the post.

College grads, I want to draw your attention to Salpeter’s second point of claim your domain name as this is perhaps one of the most crucial steps you can do. By buying a personal URL such as johnsmith.com, which can cost as low as $10 a year, not only are you ensuring that no one else can buy it and scam you, but you are also giving yourself the motivation to do something positive with your personal brand. Use that site to put up your most recent photography work. Use it to host a blog about your thoughts on the debt crisis if you want to ultimately get into economics. Or use it to display pictures from your latest architecture project. Your personal URL will become your new resume in this technologically advanced world and increase your chances of being scouted or recruited.

It’s a simple step, as are the others, but purchasing your own domain will ensure that when a prospective employer types your name into Google, your personal website displaying your latest and best work shows up. And after all that hard work, who wouldn’t want to hire you?

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A New Major is in Town and its name is Social Media - Apr 12, 2012

A Teacher's Aide to Catch a Cheater - Mar 22, 2012

Comments on this Entry:

(Removals Ireland on Apr 27, 2012 10:52 AM)

Yeah, I also think that it is important to have a personal URL. The personal domain guarantees for your serious intentions.

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And in the case of Sierra LaMar’s parents, the nightmare is not yet over. Sierra, a 15-year-old boisterous girl from Morgan Hill, Calif., reportedly never got on her 7:15 a.m. bus to school on March 16. As student after student filtered into Sierra’s classes throughout the day, teachers simply entered “absent” next to Sierra’s name in their computer system. It wasn’t until 6 p.m. that night, more than 12 hours after Sierra had gone missing, that her parents first received word through an automated email and phone call from the school that Sierra never made it to class that day.

"They had no idea of the situation before they got that email," Sierra's older sister Danielle LaMar said of her parents. "Especially in this case, time definitely matters."

After dozens of frantic calls to friends and family to see where Sierra was, the LaMars called the police. Since the initial report, police have received more than 1,200 tips but have few leads and Sierra has still not been found.

While police, volunteers and Sierra’s parents feverishly look for the high schooler, others are asking the tough question that many might be afraid to ask: in an age rife with technology – from text messaging to instant messaging to email to apps – why weren’t Sierra’s parents notified earlier? According to a recent newspaper article, an informal survey of nine school districts around the Bay Area, from Oakland and Concord to San Jose and Morgan Hill, found that most schools wait to notify parents of a child's absence until the end of the day, especially at high schools.

“There's nothing illustrating the flaw in that system more than Sierra's disappearance," said Marc Klaas, whose daughter, Polly, was kidnapped from their home in Petaluma, Calif., and killed in 1994.

Although experts say it is hard to know whether a few extra hours could have made the difference in Sierra being found, statistics show that most kidnappers with insidious intentions kill their victims within three hours.

So all of this raises the question: at what point should school officials be tasked with notifying parents that a child is missing? Especially at the high school level where kids can frequently cut class or skip the whole day, at what point should school administrators suspect that foul play has been involved and notify parents?

It’s a tricky situation as each school environment and the levels of perception are so different.

For example, in high schools with fewer than 100 students a grade, and in those schools where students often have the same teacher for years in a row, one would surmise that it is easier to detect if something has gone wrong. Specifically, teachers might be more in tune to the fact that a solid, dependable student is missing (and that the parents have not called to report the child sick). In these instances, teachers and administrators might not think twice to call the parent after the first period that child is missing. 

But most districts around the world are much larger than these types of schools, and in many of these school atmospheres students move from class to class, falling through the cracks if they are not standout pupils. In these schools, teachers might note that a student is missing but not necessarily know if this is something that should worry a teacher or should be addressed later.

As a result of just how different educational institutions are around the world, each school needs to create a notification policy that is in line with their school profile, but every school must consider the following: it is just as important to determine how to use technology for security measures as it is to figure out how to enhance the classroom learning environment. Technology can do so much more than bring kids science lessons in 3D and allow students to experience video conferencing firsthand; it can save their lives.

So what will Sierra’s high school do different after her disappearance. According to Claudia Rossi, an elected trustee for the Morgan Hill Unified School District, the district will look into the issue and explore the possibility of connecting alerts with parents' cell phones and alerting earlier in the day.

"Obviously with this missing case, we're all wondering what can we do better?" Rossi said. Still, "can everything we do safeguard and keep a tragedy like this from happening? Sadly, no."

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AT&T Moves Up the School Popularity Chain - Apr 10, 2012

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The scene is chaotic as students will be haggling to the last dollar to get the most bang for the buck for their barely used book because, let’s be honest, senior week, formals and beach trips are on the horizon. It’s that beautiful second semester tradition – one that will slowly be phased out in the next few years, though.

That’s because everyone from elementary schools to high schools to higher education institutions are going the way of the iPad, a tactic administrators are touting as a cheaper option to students or parents purchasing dozens of textbooks. Slowly, iPads are infiltrating school classrooms and kids are becoming just as (or more) tablet-savvy as their parents who depend on these devices for business uses.

 In fact, most recently, New Trier High School in Illinois announced its plans to give parents– who in one school year can pay more than $1,000 for textbooks if they have two kids in the district – a break by taking advantage of agreements between Apple and some publishers to offer textbook titles for $14.99 through the iPad.

According to a Chicago Tribune report, New Trier allocated $375,000 so that it could put the popular tablets in the hands of 600 of its 4,200 students in the fall. If the program meets with success over the next three years, administrators say it could be expanded by fall 2015 to include every student. Officials estimate the average family will save about $30 in book costs the first year and about $60 the following year. Students in the selected courses will pay a $60 fee to receive an iPad. In future years, a student could pay $40 each year of high school and own the device.

"I think it could be one part of a strategy to help people save some money and not have to carry heavy books around," said Judy Schnecke, of parent in the district.

iPads in the classroom boast countless benefits. Aside from their technological supremacy – from high resolutions to tactile elements to video and audio features – they help prepare students for college and the “real world,” which are quickly becoming rife with tablets. Moreover, it is hard to find fault in any device that provides cost savings and eradicates back problems that result from toting around heavy backpacks filled with textbooks.

But – and I give you full permission to call me old fashioned, antiquated, or whatever else springs to mind – I still think textbooks should have a place in the school environment. There is something about taking notes in a book, glossing your fingertips over the textbook and knowing that that book was solely designed for education purposes that is pure in its very form. A textbook is one of the founding principles of education and something that I still hold sacred.

While I would be wrong in hoping that schools keep favoring textbooks instead of iPads – as iPads certainly are the wave of the future and for good reason – I must admit that I will be a little bit slower to hop off my nostalgic memory lane train. And I gather that a few of you will still be sitting there right next to me as a world of “touch,” “slide” and “share” does not seem all that exciting at the end of the day.

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AT&T Moves Up the School Popularity Chain - Apr 10, 2012

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Comments on this Entry:

(Peter Radizeski on Apr 19, 2012 5:07 PM)

So when Apple coerces publishers and sets the price for e-textbooks that's okay? When Amazon does it, it's wrong. Hmmm...

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The Virginia Tech massacre, a school shooting that took place on April 16, 2007 on the campus of Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in Blacksburg, Va., was perhaps one of the most harrowing and disturbing events that has taken place in recent years. That day, Seung-Hui Cho, a senior English major at Virginia Tech, fired on students and faculty all over campus, killing 32 and wounding 25 in two separate attacks approximately two hours apart, before ultimately committing suicide. Cho, who prior to this shooting had been diagnosed with a severe anxiety disorder, was responsible for the second-deadliest act of mass murder at a school campus, behind the Bath School bombing of 1927, according to reports.

As the fifth anniversary of the massacre came yesterday, school officials decided to hold classes for the first time on that day to honor the memories of those lost that day.  For some, however, the day greatly tugged at heartstrings.

“It was really hard, but we got through it," freshman Jessie McNamara, who wasn't on campus at the time but lost two older high school friends in the shooting, said, fighting back tears according to a recent article.

At midnight, Virginia Tech marked the five-year anniversary with the lighting of a ceremonial candle that remained lit for 24 hours. Members of the university's Corps of Cadets stood guard at the candle for 32 minutes to honor the 32 who were killed.  Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell was also scheduled to speak at a commemoration and candlelight vigil on Monday night.

Although the massacre at Virginia Tech brought little more than heartache, tragedy and confusion that day, it also served to shed light on the importance of looking for warning signs, or any possible clues, that travesties such as these are about to occur.

With the advent of Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, etc., there are countless opportunities for individuals to gain insight into the thought processes of their peers – from the silly musings to the wise sentiments to the confusing, even worrisome posts.

Almost two years ago, for example, we saw Tyler Clementi announce to his social networking world via Facebook that he was heading to the George Washington bridge to take his own life, after allegedly being the victim of cyberbullying at the hands of Dharun Ravi, his college roommate. Evidence later showed that Ravi had frequented Twitter a few times before Tyler’s death to lament about Tyler’s dalliances with another man, something which could have tipped others off to the fact that perhaps Tyler might be upset.

Along those lines, recently Facebook announced that if you see one of your friends or another user post a suicidal comment or status update on his/her Facebook page, you can click a “report” button next to the posting and then answer a series of questions about whether the post was violent, harassing, hate speech or harmful behavior. In the event that harmful behavior is clicked, Facebook’s user safety team reviews the post, determines whether it is legitimate, and sends an email to the user with a phone number to a hotline and a link to start a confidential chat session.

“One of the big goals here is to get the person in distress into the right help as soon as possible,” said Fred Wolens, Facebook’s public policy manager, said in a recent article.

Whether it’s someone taking to the Web to discuss how miserable he/she is or someone choosing to disparage others or post concerning comments about others’ safety, it is our duty as consumers of the social stratosphere to pay attention to these messages and do something. Even if it’s just telling someone else, do not be a bystander when abnormal social networking activity surfaces.

While there is no evidence that suggests that Cho had shared his intentions to commit harm at Virginia Tech beforehand, there could be others who might choose to voice their plans, or convolutedly hint at them.

Your job is simple, students; as you try to balance homework, job interviews and social commitments at school, make sure you are never brushing off what seems to be an off the cusp tweet  or status update. Pay attention to these messages and read between the lines. Some tragedies certainly don’t come with warning signs, but anything you can do to make your school life safer is a step in the right direction.

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A New Major is in Town and its name is Social Media - Apr 12, 2012

Consulting the Expert: A Teacher's Thoughts on Social Media in the Classroom - Dec 01, 2011

Comments on this Entry:

(Maha Jabeen on Apr 19, 2012 12:23 AM)

I agree with you

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But if you majored in journalism, or even more specifically magazine or newspaper, you might find yourself pounding back glasses of wine as you nervously notice a trend; there are scarcely any jobs for print publications out there even though you just spent four years and hundreds of thousands of dollars learning about how to create a killer FOB (front-of-the-book for all you non-magazine majors) and in-depth above-the-fold feature story.

What you are noticing instead is the plethora of job listings for positions such as “Social Media Manager,” “Social Media Consultant” and “Social Media Assistant.” You might be thinking ‘Is this for real?’ ‘Can I really make big bucks tweeting and Facebooking all day long?’ And the answer is yes.

In fact, Business Insider recently released the top seven social media jobs that currently exist as companies are calling for everyone from a Social Media Strategist to a Content Curator to a Community Manager – and the salaries are pretty cushy.

So why the need for social media managers all of a sudden?

Because businesses cannot survive without a social media presence. Even if you dislike Facebook and Twitter for what they have done to the individual – allowing them to hone his/her voyeuristic tendencies, stalk freely and unabashedly post inane thoughts – these sites have done wonders for business. Social networking sites have allowed startup companies to become million-dollar companies in months at substantially lower costs and have allowed established companies to attract new markets.

Perhaps most importantly, though, social media sites have given companies the green light to join the conversation. As opposed to companies sitting back and hoping that their consumers are saying pleasant things about them, brands can now actively monitor the Web and ensure that each customer is given one-on-one attention.

With companies forced to turn to social networking – or else forced to take a back seat to competitors –it is only natural that a Social Media Manager position has been given just as much weight as the IT guy.

As a graduate of the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications, I had to check in with my alma matter to see if it offers a Social Media major, for surely my school must understand the importance of giving kids this competitive edge in the marketplace. I was shocked to see that this major does not yet exist. While I do commend my school for amending the “newspaper” major to “newspaper and online journalism” and for offering other majors such as “broadcast and digital journalism,” a forward-thinking school like Newhouse needs to stay ahead of the curve and offer a social media major.

For slowly in the education world, the idea of a social media major is creeping up and pretty soon many schools will see the value in offering this line of study. So, my advice to all you students out there is to ask your advisor what social media classes exist at your school. Find out if you can secure an internship within the social media field. And for all you soon-to-be college students, if you are interested in the subject, search for schools that are one step ahead and already offer this innovative major.

The jobs are out there and the businesses need you. And then you can get to brag to your friends “Yeah I tweet for a living.”

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Consulting the Expert: A Teacher's Thoughts on Social Media in the Classroom - Dec 01, 2011

Comments on this Entry:

(Moving House on May 4, 2012 8:16 AM)

Wow, Carrie, you could not nailed down the matter, more precisely than that! I am one of these whose dream job was to work as a journalist in a magazine and you totally seem to understand my pain now, this seems as an outdated job for real! But you are right, we have to make the best of it and I am going to try my best in achieving it:)!

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Of course, there is Apple who probably has way more clout than that varsity basketball player or president of Greek life as the empire paved the way for tablets in school and introduced Siri whose job, amongst other things, is to coordinate “Thirsty Thursday” plans. Then, of course, there is Amazon which made it easy to buy coveted school supplies, eReaders and, perhaps most importantly, provided an alternative way to purchase college textbooks to save a few bucks for those beers. 

This week, I have to give credit where credit is due and draw your attention to quiet kid in the backseat of your class – you know the one who is frequently overlooked because of boisterous iPhone, BlackBerry and SparkNotes? So, students, say hello to AT&T – that kid in class that deserves a high five or at least a cursory hello.

Recently AT&T announced that it is launching a quarter-billion dollar campaign to help more students receive their high school diplomas, head off to college, and situate America in a better spot to meet rising global competition. The AT&T Aspire campaign, already amongst the most significant U.S. corporate educational initiatives with more than $100 million invested since 2008, identifies high school students at risk of dropping out and encourages them to stay by employing a “socially innovative” approach. Simply put, AT&T will couple traditional campaign efforts with social media and technology innovation to help keep kids in school.

To date, the Aspire effort has already helped more than one million U.S. high school students and prepared them for success in the workplace and college.

"AT&T Aspire works toward an America where every student graduates high school equipped with the knowledge and skills to strengthen the nation's workforce," AT&T Chairman and CEO Randall Stephenson said during a recent keynote address.

The telecommunications company’s latest effort is worthy of praise. With so many technological innovators today are inadvertently (and intentionally) paving the way for kids to underachieve, it is nice to see one take a stance against dropping out of school. Whether its app developers spearheading a cheating app, Spark Notes creating a site so that kids don’t have to do the reading, or Apple unintentionally equipping students with iPads in class – which although has countless benefits – to makes it easier for coeds to play Words with Friends instead of listening to their sociology lecture.

In fact, some kids become so adroit at using technology that by age 17 they would rather go and work for a tech giant as opposed to attend college; after all, if Steve Jobs and Mark Zuckerberg balked at college, why can’t they?

But students ought to go to college. Even if it’s not right away, students should find a way to enroll at a university as college presents a myriad of opportunities for students to learn about themselves, challenge their belief systems and learn to work in teams and independently.

So kudos AT&T for recognizing that although some of the best minds in the space have been school dropouts, high school education is paramount in today’s increasingly competitive marketplace. I’d save you a seat at the lunch table.

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Industry Awaits Apple's Big Education Announcement Thursday - Jan 17, 2012

Smartphones Quickly Becoming a Cheater's Best Friend - May 10, 2012

I'll Take an Order of Textbook, Please Hold the iPad - Apr 19, 2012

What Should be on a College Student's New Year's Resolutions List - Dec 29, 2011

All Aboard My Education Nostalgic Train - Sep 20, 2011

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First there’s the “Extroverted, Every Day” user. C’mon, we all know this user. You know, that person who isn’t afraid to share his/her every thought to the world – even if that includes posts lamenting the fact that he/she bombed that business presentation or social studies test – and is often the first to “like,” “join,” “share,” and “tag” on the social networking site. 

Then, of course, there’s the “Passive, Occasional” user – that person who has a Facebook account and posts about two or three times a week, from the inane to the useful posts. (Note to readers:  I like to think that I fall into this category and that my posts err on the side of useful as opposed to inane, but that’s probably just wishful thinking!). This person won’t actively seek out people to “friend” on Facebook or pages to like, but is receptive to suggestions from friends and enjoys reading other’s status updates occasionally, provided that those status updates don’t inundate that person’s newsfeed.

Finally there’s the “I’m Only On Because (Insert Name) Made Me Do It.” This are people who have Facebook accounts but have either forgotten their password, don’t understand the point of the social networking site, and/or are silently harboring ill will towards the individuals that tricked them into joining years ago.

However, there exists a small subset of Facebook users in the inconspicuous fourth group – the “I’m Going to Build My Brand Starting on Facebook” user. And that’s the user we should all be striving to emulate.

In today’s competitive job market, economic recession and surplus of Gen Y and laid off Baby Boomers searching for work, many have decided to go the way of the entrepreneur. After all, social media is mostly free, so what better time than now to launch that dream business you first thought of when you were 13 and when the World Wide Web is waiting to be your best friend? And when it comes to the entrepreneurial route, perhaps no group is hopping aboard that bandwagon quicker than generations Y and Z, the recent college grads and the current college and high school students. Case and point: Mark Zuckerberg eight years ago in a Harvard dorm room.

As stated in a recent blog post, “For businesses starting up, social media can be a valuable tool in order to gain exposure in a cost-effective manner, as well as potentially gain funding through online sources. Platforms such as Kickstarter. This platform has become one of the main ways students can apply for the backing they need for a product or service, and is only one of the many online services designed with today’s startup in mind.”

While high school students and college coeds might be perceptive enough to see the obvious benefits of social media for helping ramp up a business quickly, these two groups are also the most susceptible to making cardinal social media mistakes.

Although it may be hard to argue that a college student who spends his free time updating his statuses  about “Thirsty Thursdays” and “Beer Pong,” and liking pages with titles such as “Girls Gone Wild,” will 100 percent never see his entrepreneurial business take off, why take the gamble?

Students: You are at a pivotal place in your life right now. You have a host of social networking sites at your fingertips and your minds are nimble, fresh – not tainted by having heard many times, “I’m sorry but we’ve gone with someone else.” Your optimism is still there; your innovation is brimming.

So don’t abuse your social networking sites. Don’t be a part of any of the first three groups I mentioned because whether you want to believe it or not every single time you create a social networking account or you choose to ignore it’s power, you are building up your brand, for better or worse.

It might be hard to think about monitoring your sites so closely now when you are five years away from wanting to launch your dream company. But every time you post a status update or Tweet, the Internet search engines are indexing you, meaning that investors five years down the line might not look favorably on the fact that most of your college years were characterized by excessive, mind-numbing posts and tweets (even if you cleaned up your social networking act the past year).

So join group four now. Assume that you will hit it big one day. And don’t be afraid to turn your Facebook password over to that investor if need be.

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A New Major is in Town and its name is Social Media - Apr 12, 2012

Consulting the Expert: A Teacher's Thoughts on Social Media in the Classroom - Dec 01, 2011

Facebook Timeline: Forced to Relive Our Past? - Jan 26, 2012

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