Distraction Free Schools Maryland

Distraction Free Schools Maryland is part of a coalition of parents, educators, and school administrators united in calling for legislative action and policy changes to address the overuse of smartphones, social media, and School-Tech in Maryland's schools. It is a state team under the Distraction-Free Schools Policy Project, an initiative led by Becca Schmill Foundation and Smartphone Free Childhood U.S.

 

Our state team is focused on two parallel efforts:

 

1) Community Outreach - We encourage all supporters in Maryland to sign our Letter of Support, which will be shared with our state legislators. Our advocates are busy reaching out to and meeting with state legislators to sponsor our model legislation, and every signature added greatly supports their advocacy efforts. Model legislation includes: Phone Free Schools, Social Media Free Schools, and Safe School Tech.

 

2) Legislator Outreach - We need people who can reach out to legislators to urge them to sponsor the model legislation. We are putting together template materials to help people do this outreach. You can also indicate your interest in doing this work also by signing our Letter of Support.

 

Please share our Letter of Support widely within your networks!

https://www.distractionfreeschools.com/maryland-action

Lakelands Park Middle School ramps up security after social media threat

 https://www.fox5dc.com/video/1425073

Montgomery Co. schools urges teachers to ‘align’ social media posts with ‘system’s values’

Teachers and staff at Montgomery County Public Schools in Maryland are strongly urged to watch what they say on social media and make sure it “aligns” with the “system’s values” after four teachers were put on administrative leave.

According to a letter sent by the school system’s chief operating officer, Brian Hull, there has been a rise of “staff accounts being reported on,” which Montgomery County Public Schools had to follow up on...

https://wtop.com/montgomery-county/2023/12/montgomery-co-schools-urges-teachers-to-align-social-media-posts-with-systems-values/

High court struggles on whether officials may block social media critics

The Supreme Court will decide several cases this term that impact the future of free speech on social media platforms

...The pair of cases before the justices presented a fresh opportunity for them to consider when public officials — in this case, two school board members in California and a city manager in Michigan — can bar critical voices from social media accounts that are increasingly used at all levels of government to communicate with citizens. They are part of a set of legal controversies the justices will review this term that will clarify the future of speech on social media platforms...

https://wapo.st/41d23oP

Social Media and the Teen Mental Health Crisis

 SUBCOMMITTEE ON PRIVACY, TECHNOLOGY, AND THE LAW

Subcommittee Hearing

Date: Tuesday, November 7th, 2023

Time: 10:00am

Location: Dirksen Senate Office Building Room 226

Presiding: Chair Blumenthal

Social Media and the Teen Mental Health ... | United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary

Opinion U.S. surgeon general: I am concerned about social media and youth mental health

 

Vivek H. Murthy is the surgeon general of the United States.

“It’s a different kind of love, the love you have for your children,” my father would often say when I was growing up. When I became a parent and found myself hovering over my children’s cribs late at night to make sure they were okay, I understood. Nothing is more important than keeping our kids safe and giving them every chance to grow and thrive. As they reach adolescence, this means paying attention to how social media can affect their health and well-being.

When I travel around the country talking with parents, the No. 1 question they ask me has to do with social media: “Is it safe for my kids?” Nearly 70 percent of parents say their job is harder now than it was for parents 20 years ago, mainly because of technology and social media...

Opinion | U.S. Surgeon General Vivek H. Murthy warns of social media for kids - The Washington Post

Opinion U.S. surgeon general: I am concerned about social media and youth mental health

 

Vivek H. Murthy is the surgeon general of the United States.

“It’s a different kind of love, the love you have for your children,” my father would often say when I was growing up. When I became a parent and found myself hovering over my children’s cribs late at night to make sure they were okay, I understood. Nothing is more important than keeping our kids safe and giving them every chance to grow and thrive. As they reach adolescence, this means paying attention to how social media can affect their health and well-being.

When I travel around the country talking with parents, the No. 1 question they ask me has to do with social media: “Is it safe for my kids?” Nearly 70 percent of parents say their job is harder now than it was for parents 20 years ago, mainly because of technology and social media...

Opinion | U.S. Surgeon General Vivek H. Murthy warns of social media for kids - The Washington Post

Dove | Reverse Selfie | Have #TheSelfieTalk

Loudoun Co. schools tighten social media access for middle school students

Public schools in Loudoun County, Virginia, are attempting to rein in misuse of social media by middle school students on school-issued Chromebooks.

The School Board’s Technology Steering Committee Wednesday night will discuss social media access for students, and hear about recent challenges and changes in an informational briefing.

While social media access and usage on mobile phones is largely between parent and child, access to social media and websites on school-provided Chromebooks for students is restricted...

https://wtop.com/loudoun-county/2022/06/loudoun-co-schools-tighten-social-media-access-for-middle-school-students/

Councilmember Craig Rice Promotes Contest that Requires MCPS Middle School Students To Be On Instagram. Instagram says Users should be 13 or older.

Montgomery County Councilmember Craig Rice has posted a promotion for a Competition for MCPS students that requires entries into the Competition to post on Instagram.

The Competition is for MCPS middle and high school students.  However, Instagram requires users to be at least 13 years old.  Middle School students can be from 10 to 14 years old.  Most middle school students will not be old enough to be on Instagram.  Note the $10,000 in awards and prizes to lure in the students. 

From Instagram:  

 

https://about.instagram.com/blog/announcements/continuing-to-make-instagram-safer-for-the-youngest-members-of-our-community

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This cult teen brand is quitting social media amid growing safety concerns

New York (CNN Business)Trendy soaps brand Lush Cosmetics is quitting Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat on Friday in a radical move to draw attention to how those platforms are damaging people's mental health.

The company said Monday that its accounts will be deactivated on Nov. 26, the day after Thanksgiving, when most other brands and retailers kick their social media activity into high gear to win over holiday gift shoppers.

Lush, which has more than 900 stores worldwide, including 240 across the United States and Canada, said it will remain off those social media channels globally until the platforms ensure a safer environment for their users...

https://www.cnn.com/2021/11/22/tech/lush-quits-social-media/index.html?utm_campaign=rtb&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_source=morning_brew&fbclid=IwAR0WBWUzvfB88sbkGBpqYl6evHdylG0mbxV7XSQMnN0DbgmJbr2UWXuMQgg

What Happens When Everyone Looks Away. NYT: A Criminal Underworld of Child Abuse, Part 1. "Every major tech company is implicated."

A monthslong New York Times investigation has uncovered a digital underworld of child sexual abuse imagery that is hiding in plain sight. In part one of a two-part series, we look at the almost unfathomable scale of the problem — and just how little is being done to stop it...

Part 1 and 2:

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/19/podcasts/the-daily/child-sex-abuse.html

Members of the Montgomery County Council say they’re taking notice after the American Civil Liberties Union filed suit against Gov. Larry Hogan.

ROCKVILLE – Members of the Montgomery County Council say they’re taking notice after the American Civil Liberties Union filed suit against Gov. Larry Hogan.

The lawsuit, filed Monday, alleges that Hogan’s staff members deleted comments and blocked constituents from viewing his Facebook page.

“The highest purpose of the First Amendment is to protect the right of Americans to engage in political speech and to petition the government to address their concerns," said Deborah Jeon, legal director for the ACLU of Maryland in a statement.

The ACLU says Hogan’s social media staff deleted critical comments and blocked people from viewing the governor’s Facebook page and that this violates the First Amendment’s protection of freedom of speech.

“The immediate access people have has changed so rapidly over the past few years it is hard to keep up with it,” said County Executive Ike Leggeett. “We need to come up with a uniform policy that that public can understand.”

Leggett said there should be different standards for public and private social media pages, saying the County’s official social media accounts are publically funded pages and are held to the same standards as the rest of County government. Leggett said he keeps a personal Facebook page, but said he does not block people or delete comments even though he said his private account is mainly for personal use.

As Leggett does, Council member Tom Hucker (D-5), said he generally does not block people or delete comments. Hucker said he could not remember an instance when he blocked someone or deleted a comment, but said he is not opposed to it completely if it crosses a line...

...“I think he crossed the line by a long way this was just simply a commenter who just disagreed with his policies, they weren’t disparaging, they weren’t vitriolic…they were simply disagreements,” said Riemer of the comments deleted from Hogan’s Facebook page...

http://www.thesentinel.com/mont/news/state/item/5621-aclu-sues-hogan

MCPS Parent on Minnesota Rock the Schools: Child Sexual Abuse in Schools #PassingtheTrash #grooming #mcps #CodeofConduct

About Rock The Schools with Citizen Stewart
Hosted by: Chris Stewart
Executive Producer: Monique Linder
Stewart’s mission with “Rock The Schools” is to “create a greater educational opportunity for black communities by grounding the school reform debate in black history and transformative black thought.” Stewart believes “this is done by challenging the dominant trope of anti-school reform activism, and illustrating connections between the liberationist principles of yesterday’s black struggles, and today’s education proposals (e.g. “privatization,” school choice, and charter schools).” Stewart’s tag “Public education for an educated public” begs the question of accountability.


About MCPS parent Jennifer Alvaro

School official: Social media a bigger problem than gangs

Student posts on social media lead to a lot of fights in schools, according to a local school safety leader.
“We’re dealing with so many issues day in and day out, and acts of violence and students being attacked based on what’s out there on their social network,” said Wayne Ferrell, a cluster security coordinator for Montgomery County Public Schools.
At a meeting last week about gangs hosted by the group Safe Silver Spring, Ferrell said social media is actually a bigger problem than gangs.
He said the schools’ new, state-mandated Code of Conduct, combined with an influx of new students who fled violence in other countries, set up what looked like a “perfect storm.”...

http://wtop.com/montgomery-county/2016/04/school-official-social-media-a-bigger-problem-than-gangs/

Baltimore County teacher faces discipline over social media post

A teacher at Deer Park Elementary School in Baltimore County faces disciplinary action after she posted a picture of herself with a class of students on school grounds and described them using an expletive, a county schools spokesman said Tuesday...

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/education/blog/bs-md-co-teacher-instagram-20161004-story.html

Germantown Man Charged with Sex Offenses Involving a Minor - Track Coach at Seneca Valley HS

In late August, detectives with the Montgomery County Police – Special Victims Investigations Division began investigating sexual offense allegations against Onaje Robinson, age 42, of the 12900 block of Falling Water Circle in Germantown.  Robinson is a track coach at Seneca Valley High School located at 19401 Crystal Rock Drive in Germantown.  Investigators have charged Robinson with two counts of a third-degree sexual offense and one count of second-degree assault.  He turned himself in to detectives yesterday evening (Tuesday, September 13).
Detectives interviewed a 14-year-old girl who reported that she had met an older male subject, later identified as Onaje Robinson, on social media.  After approximately one week of communication, the two agreed to meet.  The victim told investigators that she told Robinson that she was 14 years old.
Investigation has revealed that in the early morning hours of  August 20, Robinson drove to the victim’s Anne Arundel County residence.  Robinson met the victim and drove her to his apartment where they had sexual intercourse.  At approximately 5:00 a.m., Robinson drove the victim back to her home.
Last night after turning himself in to investigators, Robinson was transported to the Central Processing Unit and was released on bond.
Anyone with information about this case or additional victims is asked to call the Special Victims Investigations Division at 240-773-5400.

http://www.mymcpnews.com/2016/09/14/germantown-man-charged-with-sex-offenses-involving-a-minor/

Maryland school district to start monitoring students' social media posts with new software | WJLA.com

Maryland school district to start monitoring students' social media posts with new software | WJLA.com

Twittering Sup Just Doesn't Get it

This weekend's twitter advice from Josh?  Only happy posts, please.  Post all you want, just be sure a happy face comes with the post.

More of the same old MCPS mantra - good news only.  Even if its not from our school system.

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2. Joshua Starr ‏@mcpssuper14 Dec

   High School Football Captain Fights Cyberbullying With A Super Nice Twitter Account http://huff.to/RXjR0o  via @HPGoodNews. #cyberccivility

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Twitter used for impromptu student rally at Gaithersburg High School

Patch:  Students Organize Counter Pep-Rally Using Twitter

After school officials canceled a pep rally, students at Gaithersburg High School today protested by organizing a riot-like rally of their own.
Students used Twitter and other social media tools to organize the protest rally.
The original rally, part of Spirit Week, a week-long homecoming celebration, was called off shortly before it was scheduled to start at 12:30 this afternoon after some students became "overly spirited," according to Gaithersburg Principal Dr. Christine Handy-Collins...