Supporting Jeff’s Law in Florida

Supporting Jeff’s Law in Florida

In Florida, the “Jeffrey Johnston Stand Up for All Students Act” (Florida Statute 1006.147) calls attention to bullying and cyberbullying with the goal of bringing awareness and enforcing new policies in schools to ensure students safety.

Florida has state legislation in place to ensure students are safe online and to help prevent against bullying and cyberbullying. This legislation “prohibits bullying or harassment with respect to computer-related activities; provides that bullying includes cyberbullying; and revises components of school district policy on bullying and harassment.”

What is bullying?

As defined by Florida’s legislation, “Bullying includes cyberbullying and means systematically and chronically inflicting physical hurt or psychological distress on one or more students or employees. It is further defined as unwanted and repeated written, verbal, or physical behavior, including any threatening, insulting, or dehumanizing gesture, by a student or adult, that is severe or pervasive enough to create an intimidating, hostile, or offensive educational environment; cause discomfort or humiliation; or unreasonably interfere with the individual’s school performance or participation.”

What is cyberbullying?

Florida’s legislation describes cyberbullying as “cyberbullying means bullying through the use of technology or any electronic communication, which includes, but is not limited to, any transfer of signs, signals, writing, images, sounds, data or intelligence of any nature transmitted in whole or in part by a wire, radio, electromagnetic system, photoelectronic system, or photooptical system, including, but not limited to, electronic mail, Internet communications, instant messages, or facsimile communications. Cyberbullying includes the creation of a webpage or weblog in which the creator assumes the identity of another person, or the knowing impersonation of another person as the author of posted content or messages, if the creation or impersonation creates any of the conditions enumerated in the definition of bullying. Cyberbullying also includes the distribution by electronic means of a communication to more than one person or the posting of material on an electronic medium that may be accessed by one or more persons, if the distribution or posting creates any of the conditions enumerated in the definition of bullying.”

How does Jeff’s Law affect schools?

This law requires school districts to adopt policy prohibiting bullying and harassment of students and staff on school grounds, school events, and through school computer networks. This policy must contain, at a minimum, the following components:

A statement prohibiting bullying and harassment.
A definition of bullying and a definition of harassment that include the definitions listed in this section.
A description of the type of behavior expected from each student and employee of a public K-12 educational institution.
The consequences for a student or employee of a public K-12 educational institution who commits an act of bullying or harassment.
The consequences for a student or employee of a public K-12 educational institution who is found to have wrongfully and intentionally accused another of an act of bullying or harassment.
A procedure for reporting an act of bullying or harassment, including provisions that permit a person to anonymously report such an act. However, this paragraph does not permit formal disciplinary action to be based solely on an anonymous report.

A procedure for the prompt investigation of a report of bullying or harassment and the persons responsible for the investigation. The investigation of a reported act of bullying or harassment is deemed to be a school-related activity and begins with a report of such an act. Incidents that require a reasonable investigation when reported to appropriate school authorities shall include alleged incidents of bullying or harassment allegedly committed against a child while the child is en route to school aboard a school bus or at a school bus stop.
A process to investigate whether a reported act of bullying or harassment is within the scope of the district school system and, if not, a process for referral of such an act to the appropriate jurisdiction.
A procedure for providing immediate notification to the parents of a victim of bullying or harassment and the parents of the perpetrator of an act of bullying or harassment, as well as notification to all local agencies where criminal charges may be pursued against the perpetrator.
A procedure to refer victims and perpetrators of bullying or harassment for counseling.
A procedure for including incidents of bullying or harassment in the school’s report of data concerning school safety and discipline required under s. 1006.09(6). The report must include each incident of bullying or harassment and the resulting consequences, including discipline and referrals. The report must include in a separate section each reported incident of bullying or harassment that does not meet the criteria of a prohibited act under this section with recommendations regarding such incidents. The Department of Education shall aggregate information contained in the reports.
A procedure for providing instruction to students, parents, teachers, school administrators, counseling staff, and school volunteers on identifying, preventing, and responding to bullying or harassment.
A procedure for regularly reporting to a victim’s parents the actions taken to protect the victim.
A procedure for publicizing the policy, which must include its publication in the code of student conduct required under s. 1006.07(2) and in all employee handbooks.

Education solutions that support this law

Find out how our education solutions support this law, helping to create a safer online environment for all students.

NetSupport School – In-school classroom management

For over 32 years, NetSupport School is the market-leading multi-platform Classroom Management software solution for schools, supporting teachers with a wealth of assessment, monitoring, collaboration and eSafety features – to support effective learning in a safe environment.

Authorized/restricted website and application lists can ensure students are focused and help minimize student distraction and access to inappropriate content.
Monitor students’ current Internet use by viewing real-time thumbnails of their PCs to ensure they are on task – plus, teachers can create a record of Internet history use to be printed or saved for later reference.
Real-time keyboard monitoring provides a simple view of each active student and their current keyboard input – a crucial aspect in detecting e-safety issues and can be used to identify inappropriate behavior.
Teachers can show their screen or a student’s screen to demonstrate positive digital interactions while promoting appropriate technology use, helping to create good digital citizens.
Student feedback mode allows teachers to gauge students’ wellbeing and get insight into whether they need extra support.
The Technician Console allows schools to apply ‘always on’ internet, application, printing policies and more.

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classroom.cloud - Online teaching and learning

classroom.cloud provides a range of features to help teachers manage and control online class behavior (helping to keep students focused and safe), plus a set of simple yet effective teaching tools to support engaging and meaningful learning – whether it’s taking place in school or remotely at home.

Teachers can show their screen to demonstrate positive digital interactions while promoting appropriate technology use, helping to create good digital citizens.
Monitor students’ screens to see what they’re typing and who they’re collaborating with in real time to ensure they’re on task and remain focused on the lesson.
‘Allowed’ and ‘restricted’ website/application lists help teachers provide a safe learning environment by ensuring students can only access relevant websites and are shielded from unsuitable content during lesson time.
Keyword monitoring (powered by over 14,000 phrases covering a range of eSafety topics) helps to provide insight into trending issues – plus, schools and districts can also add their own keywords.
Word cloud of trending topics helps teachers to quickly spot trends and identify potential risks – with detailed reporting to further protect students.
Identify and support vulnerable students with the contextual intelligence Risk Index. This assesses the context and history of a student’s current activities (the device used, time of day, websites visited, and applications used) and considers them alongside any previous alerts they may have triggered.
Keeping track of events is super easy, as all new events are flagged as being ‘new’ and progress can be marked to ensure all supporting staff are aware.
Choose your monitoring settings to reduce false alarms by excluding certain applications and websites (including Microsoft Teams) from being monitored to focus on more high-risk areas.
Keeping things super secure is a breeze with two levels of staff access to ensure only authorized users have access and control over online safety settings.
Set monitoring hours to specify when students are being monitored, for example, only during school hours, at all times when using their school devices, or only on the school network.

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NetSupport DNA – IT Management with school-wide eSafety

In addition to providing IT Management tools, NetSupport DNA also includes a built-in internet safety toolkit as standard to help enhance schools’ internet safety policies. It provides the tools needed to identify students at risk, prevent them being exposed to inappropriate online content, encourage greater digital citizenship, and fulfil a school’s internet safety duties – all in line with ISTE guidance.

Keyword and phrase monitoring tool allows schools to quickly gain insights into what students are typing, searching for, or copying online – and it’s available in multiple language packs.
Innovative word cloud helps to easily highlight trending topics across the school – while appropriate staff are alerted through email, real-time pop-ups or summary reports, prompting them to review the triggered event.
Contextual intelligence-based Risk Index automatically flags high-risk events and vulnerable students, creating a risk index number for each event, based on sophisticated contextual intelligence risk analysis.
‘History of Concerns’ is available to help identify students that were flagged as vulnerable or at-risk, ensuring they have extra support.
Report a concern allows students to reach out for support in confidence to a teacher they trust, and teachers can also add any concerns they have about a student.
Age-appropriate Internet monitoring tools ensure students are using the Internet properly with age-appropriate profiles – creating a safer Internet with parameters to allow students the flexibility to learn about the online world in safety.
Apps and games can also be blocked or restricted to help schools add an extra layer of security and keep students on task. The application metering reports reveal application use, helping to ensure usage complies with school policy.