The Dallas Morning News – JULIETA CHIQUILLO
“The words on the cellphone screen called the 12-year-old girl ugly. Told her to rot in hell. Urged her to kill herself. Jennifer Smith’s anger at the online messages tormenting her daughter turned to disbelief when the attacks moved to the McKinney mother’s Instagram account. Smith said police don’t know who wrote the barbs. Neither does the Frisco ISD school that called to alert her about the first messages. “They honestly told me that because this didn’t happen — as far as they know — on school grounds or during school hours, it was kind of out of their hands,” Smith said of school staff. Four years ago, Texas legislators passed a law to help root out bullying and cyberbullying in schools. But educators and experts on the law said schools find themselves in a tough spot when trying to police student cruelty that unfolds online and beyond their walls.”(more)