Teacher upset that boy cyberbullied another student in her class

Q: I’m a middle school teacher. I was worried that we’d have issues when the district required students to keep their cameras on while Zooming, and sure enough, it’s already a disaster. A boy in one of my classes took a screenshot of another student in the class picking his nose and posted it on social media with a mean comment saying “and that’s why he has no friends.” And the boy was tagged! Pretty cruel. Another student reported this to me a few days later. She’s a good kid. A kind kid. She didn’t think this was right. Obviously it isn’t! I’m upset but don’t have much recourse. I don’t make the camera policies. The girl who told me doesn’t want me to say she reported the bullying, so my hands are tied. How can I make sure this doesn’t happen again?

A: Your hands are not as tied as you think they are. The second your student posted that photo and comment on social media, he lost control over who might see it. That means you can protect the girl who reported the post and also call out the boy for shaming his classmate online.

There are two separate pieces to this — your school district’s anti-bullying policy, if one exists, and the kind of culture you’d like to create in your online classroom. On the district front, you can suggest that the girl make an official report. Often, students are able to fill out a bullying report form without revealing their identity. The district can then investigate and impose any appropriate consequences. You can report the incident to your administrator as well.