PCPS offers Parent Resource Center

Contributed Report

Powhatan County Public Schools’ Parent Resource Center offers assistance to families and educators by encouraging effective partnerships between home and school.

The goals of the Parent Resource Center are to:

„ Provide direct support through listening and problem-solving with families and educators.

These communications can take place in-person, and/or through phone and email conversations.

„ Assist family members and staff in locating resources and information relevant to topics of interest, both in the Parent-Community area in PCPS school libraries and with outside agencies and organizations.

„ Offer information on local family support groups and programs. school year, PCPS is using a filtering program called Lightspeed Filter (formerly Relay) that limits websites using language, images and other criteria. Sulzer pointed out the ability for staff to report websites to the technology team at any time.

„ Collaborate with other local agencies and PCPS Committees to provide interactive workshops on general and specific topics.

„ Share information on the Special Education process.

Follow the link on the PCPS home page, http:// www.powhatan.k12. va.us/, to navigate to the Parent Resource Center site.

Regular Parent Resource Center office hours are 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. on Tuesdays and Wednesdays.

For more information, contact Becky Boswell, coordinator of the Parent Resource Center, at 804598-5700 ext. 147 or prc@ powhatan.k12.va.us.

Durrett said that all web filters have a default set of criteria that block certain websites but added the internet is “dynamic” and new websites are being created all the time. One benefit of the products the school division uses is “they harness the power of all their customers to try to keep up with all these new sites that are created.” Each night the vendors examine the databases of all customers to see what they have blocked and then incorporate that into a database pushed down to all customers.

“So we actually start the day with a new database every day,” Durrett said, adding it is a team effort to combat the “arms race” that is keeping up with the way the internet changes.

„ Student safety: Henley said she starts teaching internet safety in kindergarten and does safety lessons at the beginning of the year for all grade levels. She discusses reporting things they see that look wrong, fighting cyber bullying and steering them away from inappropriate devices.

Schwartz said the sheriff’s office partnered with PCPS last year and he visited the elementary schools to give an internet safety presentation to the fifth graders. There are already talks to offer the presentations again this year.

Sulzer said librarians also play a role in fighting misleading information by talking to their students about trusted sources.

Durrett agreed with all of the others but also talked about making sure students are taught to be watchful of what personal information is being asked for by a program.

„ Cyber bullying: Cyber bullying is not as much of an issue at the elementary levels as it is with middle and high school students,

Sulzer said. The division looks at each case individually, including how and when it is occurring and the impact it is having. In most cases, it is treated as an infraction of the Students Rights and Responsibilities.

Some cases may rise to the level where the sheriff’s office would start an investigation, usually falling under harassment code sections, but it doesn’t happen often, Schwartz said.

„ Screen time: Dewey said when she is planning her school day and the possibility of including the students using Chromebook, her rule is no more than 20 minutes at a time, a maximum of three times of day. Students are adept with computers; she wants to make them comfortable with interpersonal skills and learning to get along and communicate.

„ Student privacy: The school division has a set list of approved apps per grade level that can be downloaded to their Chromebooks, getting away from those that ask for student information.

„ Digital citizenship: Parents should be reiterating at home the importance of good digital citizenship, including knowing the difference between things that are OK to share or not, Henley said.

Sulzer also emphasized parents working with their children to find a balance with technology including having conversations about what behavior is allowed. He recommended making sure children are interacting with others online in an open space in the house without headphones so conversations can be monitored; limiting their screen time (but also teaching them to set their own limits); and even accessing their web browsing history.

Henley recommended resources offered on www. commonsensemedia.org/ for parents under the Parent Tips and FAQs tab.

„ Blind spots: Schwartz said one potential area that is overlooked is gaming systems, which also offer parental controls that can be used to monitor and keep youth safe. He emphasized making sure youth know what information is appropriate to give out to strangers, such as where they live or go to school. One of the warnings he gives parents is that people don’t just have to be worried about the stranger at the playground anymore.

“Somebody can harm your child 3,000 miles away using the internet. They can use the information your child provides them to do that, so it is good to have those conversations with your child,” he said, reiterating the parents are the

“front line” of protecting their children.

He also added it is not always about their child doing something wrong; there are people looking to take advantage of children and some youth just don’t have the knowledge to know everything to look for as red flags.

„ Parting words: The technologies available to young people today are excellent resources, but with those new technologies come new responsibilities for adults to protect children from potential risks, Schwartz said. He emphasized that technology is not going away, so adults need to step up and do their part to protect children.

Durrett said the panel’s purpose was both to show the steps the school is taking to keep children safe but also to show that it has to be a community effort.

Durrett placed notes and links on the school division’s website, http:// www.powhatan.k12.va.us/, under Division News, and said people can still send questions they have about safety.

Parents also need to be aware of the way they are modeling the use of technology at home with their own behaviors and make an effort to find family activities that are not related to technology, Dewey said.

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