Charlotte County Public Schools Holds Internet Safety Seminar

By April Hall, Staff Writer

CHARLOTTE COURT HOUSE – Charlotte County Public Schools (CCPS) held an Internet Safety Seminar on Thursday, January 26 at Randolph-Henry High School. The program was open to parents, teachers, school administrators and the community as a whole, anyone interested in learning more about protecting our youth from on-line predators.

Mrs. Nancy Leonard, Superintendent of Charlotte County Public Schools welcomed the attendees and opened the seminar stating that “protecting our children is one of the most important things we can do as a community.” She touched on topics that would be discussed during the seminar and welcomed those in attendance to stay after the program if they had questions or concerns that they wanted to discuss with the presenters.

Mrs. Leonard welcomed Mr. Rodney Hudson, Director of Technology at CCPS. He discussed the ways devices and applications are used and how easily available the internet is to children. He also gave tips on age-appropriate apps and information on “good apps vs. bad apps.”

The stage was then turned over to Mrs. Allison Gibbs, School Social Worker who presented eye-opening information on cyberbullying, discussing the types of cyberbullying and the effects it has on the recipients. She also presented ways to prevent cyberbullying and encouraged parents to keep communication with their children open.

Following Mrs. Gibbs presentation, Charlotte County Sheriff’s Department officer Andy Colbert, SRO and Mrs. Tiffany Russell, Probation Officer/Intake Officer, discussed the laws surrounding cyber-crimes. They gave examples of threatening messages and ways those messages can be sent. They also presented examples of the ways people use fake identities on the internet.

Returning to the stage to discuss Best Practices for Safety was Mr. Rodney Hudson, along with Mrs. Claire Locke, ITRT, both discussing the best ways to keep children safe online. The pair discussed easy concepts to guide children on ways to protect themselves against online predators.

At the conclusion of the seminar, attendees were encouraged to visit the CCPS Internet Safety Website located at www.ccpsinternetsafety.weebly.com and were thanked by Mrs. Leonard for participating in the program.