PRWeb News Center May 09, 2012

CyberBully Hotline Announces Addition of Nationally Recognized Bullying Prevention and School Safety Experts

Bullying Reporting Program Offers K-12 Students an Anonymous, Two-Way Communications System to Report Bully Behavior to School Administrators

We can’t just provide a hotline number; to be truly effective we must provide our clients with resources, best practices, and access to the most current strategies available in order to prevent bullying and reduce instances of this intolerable behavior.

St. Louis, Missouri (PRWEB) May 09, 2012

The CyberBully Hotline, an anonymous bully reporting program offered by SchoolReach, a leading provider of automated school notification solutions, has announced that Katie Koestner, Janet M. Irvine and Dr. Nicole Yetter – each nationally-recognized experts in the field of bully and cyber bully prevention and school safety – will be joining the program as regular contributors to its professional development and education resource center.
Through targeted articles, timely blog postings, user training materials, and other support activities, the contributors will offer thought-inspiring strategies that empower K-12 school leaders with ways to redirect, and ultimately change, bullying behaviors in schools.
Launched earlier this year, the CyberBully Hotline provides a two-way communications-reporting tool, which allows students to leave voicemail instantly, or to text anonymous messages directly to school officials. Administrators can also reply anonymously in order to provide students the help they need to address the offensive bullying act.
“Unfortunately technology, especially the social media programs, have created an avenue for new bullies, victims, and bystanders to emerge,” said Joe Palacios, CEO of SchoolReach. “We feel it is critically important to arm our educators with the best and brightest experts to shed light on how best to respond to bullying, harassment, and other reports that they might receive stemming from these new sources of bullying behavior. We know we can’t just provide a hotline number; to be truly effective we must provide our clients with resources, best practices, and access to the most current strategies available in order to prevent bullying and reduce instances of this intolerable behavior.”
The CyberBully Hotline contributors possess the following credentials:
Katie Koestner is a national expert on student safety and teen relationship culture. Her most recent article posted to the CyberBully Hotline Resource Center is entitled: Engaging Your Faculty to Address Cyber Bullying. Her career began in 1991 when she became the first victim of date rape to speak out nationally about her experience at The College of William and Mary. As a national expert on student safety and teen relationship culture, Koestner has appeared on the cover of TIME Magazine, The Oprah Winfrey Show, NBC Nightly News, CNBC Talk Live, CNN, Larry King Live, Good Morning America, Later Today, MSNBC, Entertainment Tonight, and other national television programs. She has lectured at more than 1,700 schools in North America and has assisted the U.S. Department of Education in developing and providing programs to women in high-risk communities.
Janet Irvine’s career in education – as a teacher, a special education department head, a vice principal, and an advocate for teenagers – led to her current roles serving on her local Police Services Board and the Board of Directors for a community counseling center. On the latter board, one of her roles is to act as a liaison between the board’s On-Trac program for children and youth, ages 12 to 25, who are having difficulty with aggression and Rebound Child & Youth Services, a partner agency offering unique skill-based, positive mentoring and justice system diversion programs. As the author of When Push Comes to Shove Back, a young adult novel highlighting bullying issues, she regularly writes and speaks about high school culture, bullies, and victims with accuracy and sensitivity. She most recently presented a CyberBully Hotline workshop on the 7 Successful Steps to Bystander Engagement.
Dr. Nicole Yetter brings more than 16 years of experience to bear in her work with students, educators, parents, and community members on a host of topics including Internet safety, bullying, substance abuse, decision making, and grief and loss. A featured presenter at the 2012 National Conference on Bullying, Dr. Yetter also acts as an educational consultant for various school districts across the country, is a staff guidance counselor at a large suburban high school in Philadelphia, and is a certified Olweus® trainer.
With the theme “Do Something About It,” the CyberBully Hotline program gives the latest technology-driven solution to those school administrators looking for anti-bullying resources. The CyberBully Hotline meets students where they live – online – by providing a unique local number to which they can text anonymous tips. Messages are routed immediately to designated school staff and the program offers an online interface for full administration control and activity reporting.
To learn more about the CyberBully Hotline, please visit http://www.cyberbullyhotline.com/ or call 1-800-420-1479.
About SchoolReach
SchoolReach is the K-12 division of St. Louis-based GroupCast, LLC, a broadcast voice, e-mail, and SMS notification provider. More information about SchoolReach can be found at http://www.schoolreach.com/ and http://www.cyberbullyhotline.com/
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