District to host Internet safety program
      for parents 

November 17, 2010

How do you keep your family safe on-line?

Find out during an Internet safety presentation scheduled for 7 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 30 in the Mayfield High School auditorium. The program is open to parents of students in all of the Hamilton-Fulton-Montgomery County school districts.

Presented by New York State Police inspector Jeff Scholz, the presentation explores the dangers of social media, on-line predators and chat rooms – and will paint a vivid picture of how on-line pictures can spread around the world in just a few days.

Recent studies show that 20 percent of children ages 10-17 have been solicited sexually online. According to the Internet safety site Enough Is Enough (www.enough.org), 71 percent of teens have established on-line profiles (including those on social networking sites such as MySpace, Facebook, etc.) Also, 14 percent of students in grades 10-12 say they have accepted an invitation to meet an on-line stranger in person, and 14 percent of students have invited an on-line stranger to meet them in person.

Mayfield Superintendent Paul G. Williamsen said that because technology is such an integral part of our lives, it’s important to educate parents and children on its safety.

“The safety of our children is our top priority. We realize most of them have cell phones and spend a lot of time on-line, and it’s important that they are safe in that environment,” Mr. Williamsen said. “Internet safety begins at home, and this presentation will give parents valuable information about the pitfalls of the Internet. They can then share it with their children.”

On Oct. 26, Scholz gave a presentation on Internet safety to Mayfield’s seventh- and eight-grade students. He detailed the dangers of social media and the many local instances where strangers have tried to take advantage of children via the Internet.

There is really no typical profile for a pedophile. Most are employed and have degrees. These are people who you wouldn’t expect, and people who are going to try and gain your trust,” he told students.

“We have undercover investigators who go online and pose as kids…We do at least one arrest a month.”

The Nov. 30 presentation at Mayfield High School is free to the public, and refreshments will be available.