More powers needed to fight cyber bullying, principal says

Teachers need to be able to take action against cyber bullies.

New rules for searching school students suspected of carrying harmful items including weapons or drugs are useful but teachers need greater powers to combat cyber bullying, says a Hawke's Bay principal.

The increase in cyber use among students and the possibilities for distributing images of other students online was "very dangerous", Napier Boys' High School headmaster Ross Brown said.

Guidelines for teachers to clarify how and when they can search students were issued last week. New Surrender, Retention and Search legislation came into force a month ago under the Education Amendment Act.

The guidelines spell out the best practice teachers should follow when searching a student they suspect is carrying a harmful item or one which will disrupt learning. Secondary principals say knives are the most common weapons brought into schools by pupils - either for bravado or self defence.

Mr Brown said the new guidelines gave staff clarity on how to search students, but would not have a substantial impact on the way they already carried out searches.

"[The guidelines] recognises a need - it's sad to think the need was there."

Young people made "poor choices" at times with substances at school but the most concerning issue was cyber bullying and he welcomed any initiatives to combat it.

Secondary Principals' Association ex-president Patrick Walsh said education representatives were meeting the Education Ministry next week to discuss how the rules would affect electronic devices which could be used for cyber bullying.

At present teachers could confiscate tablets or smartphones, but could not search the contents.

Schools had a small window of opportunity to delete malicious or intimate images of students, before images were uploaded to the internet by an offending student.

Mr Walsh was keen to see the ministry work with internet providers and internet safety body NetSafe to improve students' safety from cyber bullying.

Current association president Tom Parsons said although some principals would not be happy with the new search rules and guidelines, the legislation gave schools clarity on what they were legally permitted to do.

Some principals had to search students on an almost daily basis, whereas others only needed to do so occasionally, so it was difficult to issue a "blanket guideline".

APNZ