Despite continuous efforts by MCPS as far back as its regulation dated June 4, 2010, cyberbullying and bullying remains prominent in the lives of students.

   Cyberbullying is the use of electronic communication to bully a person, typically by sending messages of an intimidating or threatening nature. It is something that has been coming to a rise throughout schools around the country. It is  an act that has taken a major toll in MCPS schools despite the continuous education to stop cyber bullies in their tracks.

   On the evening of November 25, 2013, two Twitter pages were anonymously created as a source of “confessions” made about students at Springbrook High. These pages were called the “Springbrook Confessions” where students could anonymously submit harsh or cruel “confessions” about other students and faculty members at Springbrook. Throughout the night, more and more students were re tweeting, favoriting, and commenting on these tweets. The other schools (Blake and Paint Branch)  in the NEC (North East Consortium) were found to have their own confession pages.

    Many students found the pages to be offensive and pointless, as many of the confessions were not true to word… or tweet. Others found the the pages to be extremely distracting from their school work and everyday lives.

   “The Springbrook Confessions quickly went out of control. It quickly turned from joking to posting with harmful intent”, explained senior Patrick Talsania.

      Not only were Springbrook students contributors to the site, they are now considered by law to be cyberbullies. Unfortunately, these students are unable to be identified behind the tweets because the pages were anonymous.

    If cyberbullying and or bullying in any offense takes place, members of a school’s administration and counseling staffs are required by regulation to fill a bullying form that can be located online on the MCPS Website or at the school counselors office. The confession pages have been noted and monitored by the administrative and counseling staff throughout the past month.

    According to Springbrook High School’s and Montgomery County Public School’s own rules and regulations, there is a zero tolerance for any form of bullying. In any case, those who bully can be expelled from their school, fined up to $500, and sentenced to prison for the amount of a year.

    Cyberbullying is defined in the student handbook in part as, “an intentional electronic communication that creates a hostile educational environment by substantially interfering with a student’s educational benefits, opportunities, performances, or with a student’s physical or psychological well being.”

    Students are finding it easier to cyberbully due to the anonymity and ease that technology provide. As technology has advanced over time, there are more and more ways to text, tweet, or message people anonymously, making it easier and easier to attack from behind a screen.

    Senior Sienna Long from Albert Einstein High school explains, “Cyberbullying is unacceptable. Whether you are friends or not, cyberbullying is not okay. I feel as if it has definitely increased, but not the usual ‘bully teasing someone online’ but friends who take joking too far. Cyberbullying has turned into a casual concept and people need to realize that no matter the situation, it is unacceptable.”

    Despite all of the efforts both nationally and in MCPS, some do not take this issue as seriously as they should. In the student newspaper of Winston Churchill HS, the “Observer”, Opinion Editor Greer Smith believes that the solution to cyberbullying is “easy to stop, just log off”. Greer states that as a society, “ we are perpetuating weakness by comforting and constantly crying for those who crumble under the words of their peers.” Despite her opinion, the writer forgets that it is against the law to bully. It is not by any means acceptable to discriminate or bully to bring another down.

    Public perception is that there has been an exorbitant increase in matters of cyberbullying despite the amounts of educating against the act throughout schools and the workplace. Cyberbullying, an event that happens in everyday life, but in all circumstances, is unacceptable and can and will be punished if taken place.