City schools expand effort to promote online safety
Boston's public schools plan to expand an Internet safety campaign this summer, training 15 high school students in online safety and having them train their peers and mentor students in elementary schools and in their communities, the mayor's office announced yesterday.
The program, called Cyber Safety Mentors, will be funded in part by a $25,000 grant from
"Access is decreasingly a problem in Boston," Menino said. "Now, we are providing students and their families with the knowledge they need to navigate the Internet safely and properly."
The mayor was joined by officials from city schools, the Police Department, and the attorney general's office in making the announcement at Boston Latin Academy.
The city plans to hire five of the 15 students for the summer. They will also help upgrade computers and provide technical support. Officials are seeking students attending public high schools across the city. Students should be interested in technology, public speaking, and working with their peers, said Kim Rice, chief information officer for Boston Public Schools.
David Whittier, a professor of educational media and technology at Boston University, said the mentoring aspect of the program should appeal to students. There is a sense of freedom in cyberspace that enables people to feel as if they have more liberty than in the physical world, he said.
"It's very much a benefit for them to understand what ethical behavior is and what ethical practices are in cyberspace," Whittier said.
April Simpson can be reached at asimpson@globe.com. 
