Internet Safety: How You Can Protect Your Child

Published October 10, 2014

Williamson County Schools is teaming up with Homeland Security Investigations and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children through the iGuardian and NetSmartz programs.

“We believe providing children, teens, parents and teachers with information regarding the dangers of online environments is immensely important,” Group Supervisor and Criminal Investigator Agent Dennis Fetting said. “We’re seeing new trends in cyber bullying and exploitation – and these new trends have to do with social media. Our goal is to raise awareness about the issues that are becoming prevalent among the youth of today and make sure these issues are addressed. We want to support training of administrators, teachers, staff and parents on how to best protect their students and children any way we can.”

iGuardian and NetSmartz provide tips, strategies and action steps to help protect children in the digital age. Both programs have broken down information by age of viewer. There are sections for small children, tweens, teens, law enforcement, educators and parents and guardians.

\“Parents need to realize what serious threats cyber bullying and child exploitation are to our students,” said WCS Director of Safety and Security Mike Fletcher. “Sadly, there are a lot of things our phones, computers and gaming devices can do that parents are unaware of but that expose our students to a lot of unwanted attention. We look forward to this partnership with Homeland Security Investigations and the safety tips the program will provide to the parents of Williamson County.”

Throughout the coming months, Agent Fetting and his staff will be touring around Williamson County Schools, discussing how best to protect students against the child pornography and child exploitation happening across the nation and around the world. These discussions will take place in cluster groups – keep an eye out for information regarding what cluster your school will be a part of and pertinent information regarding the place and time of the event. These discussions will be open to parents and guardians only.

To get more information, contact Mike Fletcher at michael.fletcher@wcs.edu.