Mayfield Central School District hosts Internet safety program
for parents How do you keep your family safe
on-line?
Find out during an Internet safety presentation
scheduled for 7 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 30 in the Mayfield High
School auditorium. The program is open to parents of students in
all of the Hamilton-Fulton-Montgomery County school districts.
Presented by New York State Police inspector Jeff Scholz, the
program explores the dangers of social media, on-line predators
and chat rooms, and will portray a vivid scenario of how on-line
pictures can spread around the world in just a few days.
Recent studies show that 20 percent of children ages 10-17 have
been solicited sexually online. According to the Internet safety
site Enough Is Enough (www.enough.org),
71 percent of teens have established on-line profiles (including
those on social networking sites such as MySpace, Facebook,
etc.) Also, 14 percent of students in grades 10-12 say they have
accepted an invitation to meet an on-line stranger in person,
and 14 percent of students have invited an on-line stranger to
meet them in person.
Mayfield Superintendent Paul G. Williamsen said
that because technology is such an integral part of our lives,
it’s important to educate parents and children on its safety.
“The safety of our children is our top
priority. We realize most of them have cell phones and spend a
lot of time on-line, and it’s important that they are safe in
that environment,” Mr. Williamsen said. “Internet safety begins
at home, and this presentation will give parents valuable
information about the pitfalls of the Internet. They can then
share it with their children.” On Oct. 26,
Scholz gave a presentation on Internet safety to Mayfield’s
seventh- and eight-grade students. He detailed the dangers of
social media and the many local instances where strangers have
tried to take advantage of children via the Internet.
There is really no typical profile for a pedophile. Most are
employed and have degrees. These are people who you wouldn’t
expect, and people who are going to try and gain your trust,” he
told students.
“We have undercover investigators who go online
and pose as kids…We do at least one arrest a month,” Scholz
said. Tuesday's presentation at Mayfield High
School is free to the public, and refreshments will be
available. |
