General Discussion

Are schools able to take disciplinary action in cases of cyberbullying if the cyberbullying itself doesn't arise from school computer equipment, or on private equipment but on school grounds?

I ask because I genuinely don't know.

I worry that if schools are powerless under those circumstances, they may be equally powerless with AI-based bullying. Students showing the pictures can (and should) be held accountable, but if the images were generated and initially distributed off-campus, there may be nothing the school can do to those who made the images.

And how are these images not child pornography?

I hope I'm wrong. I was bullied quite badly for much of my time in school, and at 58, it still affects me. I was quiet, socially awkward (mostly through having been ostracized),, small for my grade, and less interested in sports than in science, which put a big target on my back.

Nothing at all was done about the bullies; in one case, it happened at a Catholic school and one of the bully's parents were prominent in the parish. We were told if a school employee didn't see anything, there was nothing they could do. I even had one of those "shake hands and be friends" things happen at that Catholic school when I was in 6th grade.

Many people - my parents included - urged me to fight back. This ignores some basic facts - it was usually multiple bullies, they were usually much larger, and some of them could have been armed. I could have been seriously hurt or killed.

My daughter doesn't have that problem. She's outgoing and popular. And for that, I'm grateful. And I'm grateful beyond words that my youth happened before cyberbullying became a thing.