High-tech rumors
By Jim Hand/Sun Chronicle Staff
When police made a traffic stop in front of Attleboro High School during a tense period last week, students immediately started text messaging each other about the incident.
As the story made the rounds, it grew in magnitude.
Soon students were telling their friends that there had been a shooting at the school.
Nothing of the sort happened.
But because some students had received threats the day before through a teen Internet site called MySpace.com, the story was apparently believable to some.
Parents became alarmed and started calling the schools and The Sun Chronicle.
Similar incidents are becoming almost commonplace in schools across the country, experts say.
They are fueled by technology's ability to speed communication, and by teens' inability to edit themselves, the experts said.
`` More and more, we are seeing the dark side of technology,'' said Kenneth Trump, the president of School Safety and Security Service, a consulting firm.
`` We are definitely seeing more instances where technology is coming into the fold with school safety issues.''
Al-Obaidi Jabbar, chairman of the communications department at Bridgewater State College, said the fault lies not with the technology, but with the people using it.
He said people using the Internet or text messaging have to be aware of the possible harm they can do by spreading false rumors.
`` With technology comes responsibility,'' he said. `` We have to think of the consequences or social responsibility when we use technology.''
That includes making a better effort to consider the accuracy of the information we are passing along.
`` With new technology like text messaging and the Internet, there is no way to verify the information.
`` There is no way to weigh the credibility of the information,'' he said.
Rumors can put a school into an uproar, he said.
`` People have to realize they can cause a panic,'' he said.
Last fall, 1,000 students at Moose Lake High School in Washington state stayed out of school around Halloween because of rumors of pending violence.
Ten police officers were stationed at the school for three days in preparation for trouble that never came.
`` Rumors have always been very disruptive to the educational process,'' Trump, the security consultant, said.
`` Student rumors -- and rumors by adults for that matter -- have always spread like wildfire. But with new technology, they spread exponentially.
`` For school and police officials, it is now more difficult and more challenging to control them,'' he said.
Attleboro Police Capt. David Proia said his department spent days tracking down rumors of pending violence at Attleboro High, especially on MySpace.com.
`` But we hit a dead-end every time,'' he said.
The rumors started after a fight between Attleboro and Pawtucket youths at Emerald Square mall in North Attleboro.
For two weeks there were rumors that gangs from Pawtucket would come to Attleboro High School to resume the violence.
There were even rumors passed along MySpace.com that weapons would be brought into the school, according to students.
Attleboro Superintendent Joel Lovering said the rumors that were spread reminded him of the childhood game in which children take turns whispering a secret into each other's ears.
By the time the secret had been passed to the last child, it had completely changed and was blown out of proportion.
Jabbar urges parents and teachers to take time to talk to teens about the proper use of technology and the trouble misuse can cause.
Trump said school officials should use their own technology to their advantage to knock down rumors and disseminate correct information.
Schools should use their Web sites, cable television stations, group e-mail, and, if they have them, mass telephone services to alert parents, he said.
Lovering said Attleboro is in the process of purchasing a school telephone system that can call every parent instantly.
When installed, the system will allow a school official to record a message and instantly send it to every home in the school district, he said.
The system should be up in about two months, he said, but it would have come in handy during the high school situation.
Ironically, in the case of Attleboro, students were miles ahead of the school in terms of available technology.
School and police officials did hold assemblies and meetings with students during the trouble.
An assembly concerning MySpace.com is scheduled for next month.
Lovering said another concern has been expressed by testing companies that fear students will use text messaging to pass word of test questions and answers.
Trump said students in some schools have used camera phones to pass along photos of tests.
In the meantime, Attleboro students and school officials said the rumors have begun to go away, and things have returned to normal at the high school.
`` Right now, everything has died down,'' student John Fertitta said.
When police made a traffic stop in front of Attleboro High School during a tense period last week, students immediately started text messaging each other about the incident.
As the story made the rounds, it grew in magnitude.
Soon students were telling their friends that there had been a shooting at the school.
Nothing of the sort happened.
But because some students had received threats the day before through a teen Internet site called MySpace.com, the story was apparently believable to some.
Parents became alarmed and started calling the schools and The Sun Chronicle.
Similar incidents are becoming almost commonplace in schools across the country, experts say.
They are fueled by technology's ability to speed communication, and by teens' inability to edit themselves, the experts said.
`` More and more, we are seeing the dark side of technology,'' said Kenneth Trump, the president of School Safety and Security Service, a consulting firm.
`` We are definitely seeing more instances where technology is coming into the fold with school safety issues.''
Al-Obaidi Jabbar, chairman of the communications department at Bridgewater State College, said the fault lies not with the technology, but with the people using it.
He said people using the Internet or text messaging have to be aware of the possible harm they can do by spreading false rumors.
`` With technology comes responsibility,'' he said. `` We have to think of the consequences or social responsibility when we use technology.''
That includes making a better effort to consider the accuracy of the information we are passing along.
`` With new technology like text messaging and the Internet, there is no way to verify the information.
`` There is no way to weigh the credibility of the information,'' he said.
Rumors can put a school into an uproar, he said.
`` People have to realize they can cause a panic,'' he said.
Last fall, 1,000 students at Moose Lake High School in Washington state stayed out of school around Halloween because of rumors of pending violence.
Ten police officers were stationed at the school for three days in preparation for trouble that never came.
`` Rumors have always been very disruptive to the educational process,'' Trump, the security consultant, said.
`` Student rumors -- and rumors by adults for that matter -- have always spread like wildfire. But with new technology, they spread exponentially.
`` For school and police officials, it is now more difficult and more challenging to control them,'' he said.
Attleboro Police Capt. David Proia said his department spent days tracking down rumors of pending violence at Attleboro High, especially on MySpace.com.
`` But we hit a dead-end every time,'' he said.
The rumors started after a fight between Attleboro and Pawtucket youths at Emerald Square mall in North Attleboro.
For two weeks there were rumors that gangs from Pawtucket would come to Attleboro High School to resume the violence.
There were even rumors passed along MySpace.com that weapons would be brought into the school, according to students.
Attleboro Superintendent Joel Lovering said the rumors that were spread reminded him of the childhood game in which children take turns whispering a secret into each other's ears.
By the time the secret had been passed to the last child, it had completely changed and was blown out of proportion.
Jabbar urges parents and teachers to take time to talk to teens about the proper use of technology and the trouble misuse can cause.
Trump said school officials should use their own technology to their advantage to knock down rumors and disseminate correct information.
Schools should use their Web sites, cable television stations, group e-mail, and, if they have them, mass telephone services to alert parents, he said.
Lovering said Attleboro is in the process of purchasing a school telephone system that can call every parent instantly.
When installed, the system will allow a school official to record a message and instantly send it to every home in the school district, he said.
The system should be up in about two months, he said, but it would have come in handy during the high school situation.
Ironically, in the case of Attleboro, students were miles ahead of the school in terms of available technology.
School and police officials did hold assemblies and meetings with students during the trouble.
An assembly concerning MySpace.com is scheduled for next month.
Lovering said another concern has been expressed by testing companies that fear students will use text messaging to pass word of test questions and answers.
Trump said students in some schools have used camera phones to pass along photos of tests.
In the meantime, Attleboro students and school officials said the rumors have begun to go away, and things have returned to normal at the high school.
`` Right now, everything has died down,'' student John Fertitta said.
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