Clinton County School District has officially proclaimed October 16-22, 2011, as Safe Schools Week.

Kentucky Center for School Safety wants to encourage everyone across Kentucky to participate in Kentucky Safe Schools Week. The theme this year will be “Cyber-Survivor” and will cover current internet safety topics such as cyber-bullying and social networking. Kentucky Center for School Safety realizes that the cyber-world offers unique learning opportunities, face-to-face communication and skills to assure jobs in the Web 2.0 world, but along with cyber-world “treasures” watch out for its “quicksand” such as cyber-bullying, sexting, online predators, inappropriate use of social networking and gaming.

Interactive online pledges are available on Bullying, Cyber-bullying, Respect and a new pledge this year entitled “Cyber-Survivor” at www.kysafeschools.org. This internet safety, digital communication, social networking pledge has been simplified down to three basic guidelines:

On our Kentucky school campuses and in the virtual world,

I pledge to:

* SURF SMART; by exploring the internet with skill and direction.

* SHARE LESS; by keeping my personal information private.

* THINK FIRST; by interacting online appropriately.

This week long observance will be used, in part, to bring together all Kentuckians in a concerted effort to improve online safety skills which impacts the educational process. Pledge, Posters and Prompts are available for teachers to use in classrooms. The writing prompts are associated with short videos. An array of resources focused on online safety, with lesson plans and activities for students, parents, educators and the whole community are available online at www.kysafeschools.org.

The Kentucky “Cyber-Survivor” campaign is sponsored by the Kentucky Center for School Safety. This observance complements the national campaign. America’s Safe Schools Week is sponsored by the National School Safety Center. “Kentucky schools have dedicated leaders focused on various school safety challenges. One rapidly growing aspect of school safety that threatens our students is online safety. Let us join together during the third week in October, Kentucky Safe Schools Week, to enhance our skills and become Cyber-Survivors!,” said Jon Akers, Executive Director, KCSS.