ACTION: Dr. Michael Roe creates the student-run Social Justice Council to combat cyberbullying and internet danger.
By Martina Krakora, Staff Writer
A few weeks before spring break, Poly High School was entangled in the snares of cyberbullying as a new app, Burn Book, found its way into Poly’s social circles. Allowing its users to post anonymously on community discussion boards, Burn Book was used by Poly students to bully and degrade their peers with malicious intent. Thankfully, a largely “positive response from the Poly community stopped it from getting out of hand,” according to Principal Dr. Michael Roe.
Roe launched into immediate action about a week after the drama broke loose; he invited Opal Singleton, President and Director of MillionKids, a “public benefit nonprofit [organization] that fights human trafficking (www.amillionkids.org)” to speak with his principal’s cabinet about the far-reaching effects social media could have, revealing how countless adolescents have been lured into drug and prostitution rings through social media. Roe then introduced his idea of creating a Social Justice Council, which would act as a support system for students who do not have one and prevent students from being lured into traps. The council would be comprised entirely of students.
Though still in its developmental stages, the council has a clear direction and purpose. The council is currently recruiting student leaders and meeting with the Riverside Police Department, the District Attorney’s Office and the Riverside Sheriff’s Office, who will all act as mentors to the students on the council. The council will work with legal agencies, social agencies, offenders and even hopes to provide peer counseling. It will provide internet training and look into contemporary apps and internet fads so that it can warn students against potential harm.
This council came at the right time. In March, around the time when Burn Book overtook Poly High School, a young man was arrested for using social media to lure and kidnap a teen. According to ABC7 Eyewitness News, Riverside resident Aaron Misael Viteri was “arrested on suspicion of using social media and the promise of a job at Amazon to lure and kidnap a 19-year-old girl.” Fortunately, the girl was able to escape and contact the police before any real damage was done. However, many are not as lucky as Opal Singleton from a MillionKids pointed out. The Social Justice Council will be another measure to keep Poly students safe and will have far-reaching effects.