Jeremy Davis joins Dr. Sandie Morgan as the two discuss the role of schools in online safety and how educational leaders can foster digital resilience among students.

Guest: Jeremy Davis

Jeremy Davis is the Assistant Superintendent for Innovation and Instructional Support for the 12,000-student Fullerton School District in California. He also serves as the Vice President of the California Ed Tech Joint Powers Authority. Jeremy’s role includes overseeing technology, libraries, student data, cybersecurity, and IT networking across the district. His position on the cabinet allows him to lead cross-departmental efforts on online safety, integrating technology and educational support for a comprehensive approach to student well-being.

Key Points

Jeremy Davis emphasizes that online safety is not just a technology issue but a cross-departmental effort involving all school departments.
The importance of resilience in youth is highlighted as a critical factor in preventing online exploitation. Resilience is built through confidence, which is developed by knowledge and critical thinking skills.
Schools can integrate online safety education into existing curriculums, such as social-emotional learning (SEL) and digital citizenship programs, rather than adding additional burdens on teachers.
Jeremy shares how his district modified SEL lessons to include digital wellness components, making the content more relevant to online safety.
He discusses the role of parents in ensuring online safety at home, including using tools to control internet access and having open conversations with their children about digital behavior.
The district utilizes focus groups and surveys with students to measure the effectiveness of digital wellness programs and adjust lessons based on feedback.
Jeremy explains the concept of “trusted adults” on campus, encouraging students to reach out to staff members if they encounter online issues.
He advocates for proactive parent education through in-person classes, online videos, and social media campaigns to help parents stay informed about digital risks and resources.
The district has developed a comprehensive online safety page, offering guides, recommended software, and information for parents.
Jeremy stresses the importance of accountability in digital safety education, ensuring that programs are effective and continuously improved based on measurable outcomes.
Schools should collaborate with various stakeholders, including teachers, parents, and technology departments, to create a unified approach to online safety.
The key takeaway is that building resilience in students helps them confidently navigate the digital world and stand up to unhealthy online relationships and pressures.

Resources

Transcript

Sandie Morgan: [00:00:00] Welcome to the Ending Human Trafficking podcast here at Vanguard University’s Global Center for Women and Justice in Orange County, California.

This is episode number 339, The Role of Schools in Online Safety with Jeremy Davis. My name is Dr. Sandy Morgan, and this is a show where we empower you to study the issues. Be a voice and make a difference in ending human trafficking. Jeremy Davis is the assistant superintendent for innovation and instructional support for the 12, 000 student Fullerton school district in California, and the vice president of the California Ed tech joint powers authority.

I am so glad to welcome you, Jeremy. I love your job description, innovation, and instructional support.

[00:01:00] Tell me what that means? What’s in your job description?

Jeremy Davis: You know what? I’m very blessed to work in Fullerton. and the, where the TKA is part of Fullerton. we’re one of the few districts in Orange County to actually have my role at the assistant superintendent level. So, I do run the technology department, but that includes educational technology. It also includes the libraries, all the student data, cybersecurity, all the devices, IT, networking, things like that. So in a lot of districts, it’s, it’s like a director of IT or, if you’re lucky, a chief technology officer, but then there’ve been a couple who’ve elevated it to cabinet. and I think it’s super important because of, of things like what we’re going to talk about today,

where I, I’m leading a cross departmental effort on online safety, because it really doesn’t just live in the tech department. It lives in all departments, so I, I’m very appreciative that my, my job includes all kinds of things that might not normally be considered I.T. but yeah, so that’s so director of our assistant super

[00:02:00] innovation puts me over over a lot of things, but also being on cabinet gives me the ability to, really work well within the other departments and sort of set some vision for the district.

Sandie Morgan: Wow. I love that. And I want to thank you again for being a speaker at last year’s Insure Justice Conference and agreeing to do it again this year. So we’re looking forward to that. Our last interview was with a survivor, Alia Azariah. During our conversation, we learned that Ventura’s district attorney’s office gave her an award for resilience. Tell me what your take is on resilience as an element of a youth being protected from online predators.

Jeremy Davis: sure. you know, it’s it’s so interesting how, how many of the children who fall pray, it’s the online predators.

[00:03:00] Are in need of attention, you know, are sort of seeking that attention somewhere and sadly they sometimes find it, online. the resilience piece is understanding how amazing they are as human beings.

and, you know, it’s, it, for me, it goes back, honestly, to faith a little bit for me too, but it’s helping these kids understand that they’re just great people and they don’t need this outside, piece online, but also helping them understand you have no idea who you’re talking to online.

You know, we’ve done a lot of work around the differences between an actual real life relationship and an online relationship and how to determine who you’re even talking to online and do you even know who they are.

Because the resiliency comes from standing up for themselves, from being able to say no. You know, we talk about, we even go into the sex ed curriculum, where there, where, or the drug curriculum. Because if the say no to drug curriculum works really well for say

[00:04:00] no to someone asking you for a nude photo. Right? So you know, if you have negotiation skills and you have the ability to say no, because you’re confident in yourself, that resiliency transfers to everything we do within digital literacy or with digital wellness or online safety. can you say no? If someone asks you, can you say no to pressure?

do you know if the person’s a peer? Like, maybe it’s not even peer pressure. Maybe it’s a, 60 year old trying to get you to this, pretending to be a 12 year old or a 10 year old. So, knowledge gives you power, but knowledge gives you confidence, and confidence breeds resilience, because having that confidence to say no or to say this doesn’t seem right.

We also do a lot of work around trusted adults. and who are your trusted adults on campus, who are your counselors, who are your mental health people, but even who’s your custodian. You know, we have, we have, we have one of our lessons where there’s a slide of every single trusted adult on your campus that if something wrong happens to you and you’re embarrassed, you can go to any of these people and talk to them.

[00:05:00] Or you can go to NECMEC, National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, and talk to them if you’re not comfortable with anyone on campus. Like we, we try and build up a confidence of it’s okay to say no. And then who can I talk to if I’m concerned about something? So resilience, I think, comes from confidence, and confidence is what we try to breed through knowledge. So it’s sort of that constant drumbeat throughout the year of, of this being taught over and over and over.

Sandie Morgan: Wow. Okay. So, so many things are buzzing in my head, but I’m going to try to stick to this 30 minute podcast. We’ll have to have you back. So you are unique. You’re a unicorn. Actually, I looked for other people like you, and I didn’t find your job title like everywhere. So how have you been? Can we help people outside of Fullerton and Orange County

[00:06:00] and other schools that are facing these challenges?What do they need to be able to develop digital resilience and as educators more effectively address these issues?

Jeremy Davis: I think every district has the ability to do this. I mean, my, my job title is relatively unique. there’s a handful of us around, even around the state. There aren’t that many of us at this level. However, Someone can always pick up the mantle of this, whether it’s ed services working in conjunction with their I.T. department, because, there’s so many roles here when I when I brought this group together to sort of say, Hey, you know, we’ve been doing it pretty well for a number of years, but we’re going to now crank it up to 11. Um, you know, we’re going to go...