OXFORD, Miss.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--For the first time in Wyoming, students will be able to anonymously report threats of intimidation and harassment to school personnel by simply using any computer with Internet access.
Sweetwater County School District (Number Two) is the first Wyoming school district to implement Talk About It, a new online reporting tool that allows students to anonymously communicate issues and engage in safe dialogue with their school personnel. Talk About It has been implemented successfully by school districts in southern, central and western U.S. states, but Sweetwater marks its official entry into Wyoming.
Talk About It provides each student with a personal and confidential access code. Students at the district’s Green River High School, Lincoln Middle School and Expedition Academy can use Talk About It to communicate threats of violence or personal problems to school personnel, who help to create positive connections with the students and safely resolve threats before tragedy strikes.
"We know that students are the best source of information for what is happening in schools – the key is to create a forum where they feel safe to share that information," said Carter Myers, president of AnComm, which developed Talk About It. "Today’s students prefer to communicate through familiar mediums – e-mail, instant messaging. Talk About It allows them to reach out through a comfortable, safe environment where they don’t have to be afraid that someone might see them making a report or seeking help for a problem."
The product has already helped school officials in other states confiscate guns and other weapons, heading off the potential for violent attacks, Myers said. Talk About It, available for review at http://talkaboutit.ancomm.com, has also helped to prevent teen suicides, as troubled students reach out to faculty through the technology.
Sweetwater implemented Talk About It in late January 2007 and students are already responding well. Through the product, the schools have already helped needy students, and AnComm has received many "thank you" e-mails from students who are happy to have somewhere to turn in times of crisis.
The service comes six months after the school district’s board of trustees approved a new Bullying Prevention and Education Policy, which is aimed at preventing incidents of student harassment and intimidation, which can escalate into school violence. In addition to serving as a conduit for students, Talk About It offers many reporting features, so that principals and other administrators can better assess problem areas in their schools.
"By using Talk About It, Sweetwater schools will have a built-in system that allows for reporting, documenting and responding to violent threats," Myers said. "At the same time, it protects victims from retaliation, which is a major reason bullying and violent behavior are not reported in the first place."
"Students have reported a variety of issues through the system, including cyber-bullying, depression, fighting, drug and alcohol abuse, pregnancy, family problems and cutting," Myers said.
About AnComm
AnComm is a leading provider of anonymous messaging and communications solutions to the education market. Easy to implement and affordable, ‘‘Talk About It®’’ opens two-way lines of communication between students and school administrators. For students, ‘‘Talk About It’’ gives students a web-based tool to communicate their troubles, breaking the code of silence through anonymous communication. For schools, administrators and counselors are newly empowered with information so that they may take proactive steps to communicate, intervene and resolve school violence before it occurs.
AnComm was founded in 2005 and has offices in Houston, Texas and Oxford, Mississippi. To learn how your school or educational institution can benefit from AnComm’s ‘‘Talk About It’’ anonymous online and text based reporting service, visit our web sites at http://talkaboutit.ancomm.com or http://www.ancomm.com or call (866) 926-2666. |
