Trenton,
N.J. – Attorney General Zulima V.
Farber and Acting Education Commissioner
Lucille E. Davy will visit four schools
on Thursday, May 25 to help draw attention
to the risks posed to young people on the
Internet and offer tips to students, teachers
and parents on safe use of the Internet
to guard against online predators.
The
two Corzine administration cabinet officers
will be joined by county prosecutors and
State Police and Division of Criminal Justice
cyber experts who plan presentations in
each of the schools stressing the importance
of Internet safety.
Attorney
General Farber and Commissioner Davy will
visit middle schools in Gloucester and Monmouth
counties and a high school in Mercer County
while schools are in session, and cap the
day with a special evening presentation
in Union County which is arranged to underscore
the importance of parent involvement in
monitoring their children’s computer
use.
“While
the Internet can be a wonderful tool for
learning and exploring new worlds, it can
also be a very dangerous place,’’
Attorney General Farber said. “That
is why it is especially important for us
to teach our children and their parents
about smart, safe ways to use the Internet.
It is also why we decided to devote a full-day
to our Internet safety campaign across the
state.’’
“We
spend a great deal of time and effort teaching
students how to use technology," said
acting Commissioner of Education Davy. "While
most of them are far more technologically
literate than their parents, they are still
children and they are often unaware of the
extent of the scams, slams and risks that
exist in the internet world. Schools and
parents have a joint responsibility to learn
about what's going on out there and to teach
our children how to recognize dangers and
protect themselves."
According
to the National
Center for Missing and Exploited Children,
one out of five children ages 10 to 17 receive
sexual solicitations online. Internet Safety
Day was designed to combat this disturbing
statistic and provide children and their
parents with the tools to surf the Net safely,
especially as summer approaches and children
are likely to spend more time on-line with
school out. One study found that 70 percent
of unwanted solicitations from sexual predators
occurred when kids were on-line at home.
Parents
must set ground rules and children need
to know what is appropriate behavior on
the Internet and what information should
be kept private and not given out to strangers.
Parents need the tools to supervise and
monitor their children’s time on the
computer and understand the phenomenon of
“myspace.com.’’ This website
has become the most popular web site among
students with more than 57 million members.
It’s also become a favorite of child
predators, con artists and cyber bullies,
according to law enforcement officials and
computer safety experts.
At
each school, a thirty-minute presentation
is planned by computer crime experts from
the State
Police, the Division
of Criminal Justice, or county prosecutors’
offices. Since the first of the year, members
of the State Police Digital Technical Investigation
Unit and Cyber Crime Unit have conducted
more than 180 Internet safety presentations
to grammar, middle school, and high school
students, as well as parents, teachers and
civic groups.
The schedule for Thursday, May 25
follows:
-
9:30 A.M.
- Chestnut
Ridge Middle School 641 Hurffville-Cross
Keys Road
Sewell; Washington Township
Gloucester County
856-582-3535 (James
Barnes, principal)
-
11:30 A.M.
- Robbinsville
High School
155 Robbinsville-Edinburg Road
Robbinsville; Washington Township
Mercer County
609-632-0950 (Deborah
Fadde, principal)
- 2:00
P.M.
- Long
Branch Middle School
364 Indiana Avenue
Long Branch
Monmouth County
732-229-5533 (John
J. Perri, principal)
- 7:00
P.M.
- Union
County Vocational Technical School
1776 Raritan Road
Scotch Plains
908-889-8288 (John
D. Crowley, principal
*Attorney
General Farber and Commissioner Davy will
be available to speak to reporters before
each event.
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