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Stop internet threats, bullying, Pasco schools superintendent warns

'It is never okay to bully other people," superintendent Kurt Browning says.
 
Pasco County schools superintendent Kurt Browning asks parents via YouTube message to help stop students from using social media and text messages to bully, threaten and harass others. [Pasco County School District]
Pasco County schools superintendent Kurt Browning asks parents via YouTube message to help stop students from using social media and text messages to bully, threaten and harass others. [Pasco County School District]
Published Feb. 11, 2019|Updated Feb. 11, 2019

Pasco schools superintendent Kurt Browning is asking parents to remind their children not to use social media to bully or threaten others.

Browning’s message comes almost exactly a year after he issued a similar request, amid a spate of “reckless” threats against schools.

This time around, his YouTube message came after River Ridge High received a false bomb threat that sent the campus into lockdown.

“Once again, I am asking parents to talk with your children about responsible use of social media,” Browning said in the video.

He said the district continues to get reports of children threatening to cause harm or using hateful comments on social media and in text messages. The district investigates such reports and doles out discipline as necessary.

But more needs doing to root out the situation at its core, Browning suggested.

“We do our best to teach students digital citizenship,” he said. “but we need parents to reinforce that it is not okay to send threatening or abusive messages to anyone.”