On Thursday, December 7th 2021, Regional School District 13 hosted a guest speaker, Scott Driscoll. He talked to students about a wide variety of cyber-topics, including sexting, overall internet safety and digital footprint. Internet safety and cyberbullying have been a hot topic in our communities and Driscoll presented many good strategies for students to deal with these issues. 

Driscoll, a retired law enforcement officer, worked in the field for 29 years. He became a youth officer for his department, saying that he had “the best job and the worst job” because he built connections with young people but also dealt with the ugly side of youth law. 

He was then assigned to an FBI task force which was created to investigate crimes “committed by people using computers and the Internet” according to the Internet Safety Concepts website. While working for the task-force, he heard many cases about the negative side of social media. He then founded Internet Safety Concepts in 2007 to educate people on these dangers. 

This presentation came at the perfect time, considering the bullying that has been being highlighted in our district (https://crhsnews.com/9424/uncategorized/strong-school-faces-cyberbullying/). Driscoll gave students good strategies to deal with cyberbullying or other internet issues. 

Driscoll spent the bulk of his time discussing the legality behind picture sharing and sexting. He says that sexting is “a really important topic to have a conversation about” because pictures can “spread out of control, so we have to gain control” by making good judgments and choices. Driscoll wove together personal stories about cases he worked to make his points even stronger. 

He said that any person who reports online bullying, or anything negative online, is sometimes viewed as a “snitch” by their peers, when they should be viewed as a “hero.” But because of peer pressure and crowd conformity, many kids find it hard to express concern. 

He specifically tells parents, “if we have open communication, if something goes wrong, kids could say, look at this.” Meaning, Driscoll believes that establishing a trusted relationship with kids, can open that communication. This advice could also potentially be applied to trusted teachers or other staff that want to help kids who are victims or witness cyber-bullying. He also makes students aware that “if not addressed appropriately, [cyber-bullying] can have severe consequences” which shows that establishing relationships with trusted adults are extremely important.

The high school students thought this was a positive experience. Senior Janna Jose said “it was informative…you could take something from it.” Senior Leah Wagner said, “I think the presenter did a really great job, he made it feel like a one on one conversation even though it was serious” which is the best way to address high school students. Senior Ava Marenna said that she thought Driscoll did a good job, “appealing to young people and getting his message across.”