From Ahuimanu Elementary school on Oahu, to Waimea High school on Kauai, and 269 public and private schools in between, Hawaii students are learning to be safe and responsible online citizens through i-SAFE e-Safety curriculum. That adds up to 66,000 Hawaii students, saying things like they'll now be more careful about where they go and what they'll do on the Internet. And, thanks to their i-SAFE training, students report being less likely to meet an Internet acquaintance face to face. Even online music "pirates" say they've reformed.
Education and awareness is what it's all about. i-SAFE CEO Teri Schroeder credits the forward-thinking educators at the Hawaii Department of Education (HDOE), Kamehameha schools, and the Hawaii Catholic School Department (HCSD) who saw the need for e-Safety education five years ago and began lasting partnerships with i-SAFE.
Interestingly, both houses of Hawaii's Legislature are currently considering e-Safety bills (H.B. 2899 and S.B. 2106) requiring the HDOE to implement a comprehensive 3-year pilot project on Oahu that includes classroom-based education and community awareness - much like the i-SAFE program - which is already being implemented at no charge. "The pending legislation in regards to Internet safety just validates that the Hawaii Department of Education, in partnership with i-SAFE for five years already, is ahead of the curve in proactively ensuring the safety of our keiki online," says Stephen Kow, HDOE Educational Specialist for Educational Technology. "It's great when Hawaii shows the rest of our nation how things ought to be done right."
Hawaii is showing the rest of the country other things the state is doing right as well. Here are some of them. i-SAFE and Oceanic Time-Warner Cable have recently entered into an agreement to provide e-Safety materials to its customers, including videos produced for television and content on a new i-SAFE section of the Around Hawaii Web site.
i-SAFE is partnered with Hawaii DOE Service Learning and, in January 2007, i-SAFE developed the first "Hawaiian culture e-Safety curriculum" that is being disseminated to schools statewide.
i-SAFE, working with the Sex Abuse Treatment Center at Kapiolani Medical Center in Honolulu provides an introductory lesson on e-Safety as part of the "My Body, My Boundaries" curriculum for 3rd to 5th grade students. The i-SAFE section includes a complete lesson plan, reproducible resource and activity pages, and an accompanying song on CD. This curriculum, which is provided through teacher-training sessions, is endorsed by the Hawaii DOE and actively promoted to teachers within its school system. In the coming months, these materials will be offered to Hawaii's independent schools. "Partnering with i-SAFE was very advantageous for us in developing our sexual abuse prevention curriculum," says Christine Trecker, Community Education Manager of the Sex Abuse Treatment Center. "Preventing online sexual victimization of children is a top priority for us and incorporating i-SAFE's excellent educational materials into our curriculum definitely strengthened it." Investing in i-SAFE is an investment in the safety of our children. Partner with i-SAFE. Contact i-SAFE at
tschroeder@isafe.org.
For more information about i-SAFE's e-Safety education and community outreach programs for students, parents, teachers, law enforcement, and adults over the age of 50, log onto
www.isafe.org.
