Cybersafety Expert to Discuss Dangers of Facebook, Twitter to Local Youth

With more affordable smart phones and the growth of social media like Facebook and Twitter, everyone is connected. Yes, it is exciting, but how do you protect your children when they participate? Not just from predators but from bad decisions that can impact their lives for years to come? How do you even talk to them about it, let alone understand it?

The Lake Washington PTSA Council with support from Lake Washington School District presents a youth cyber-safety program for parents that will help answer those questions and more. The presentation, by attorney and cyber-safety expert Charles Leitch, is titled, “Youth Cyber Safety and the Risks of Social Media – What Every Family Needs to Know.” The same program will be repeated on four different nights at elementary schools around Lake Washington School District to give more parents an opportunity to attend. Admission is free.

The lively presentation will focus on how to approach use of technology with young people, to understand the current risks posed from technology and social media like Facebook and Twitter. Leitch, a former public prosecutor, will provide ideas on how to approach these issues with your child and to engage in a meaningful discussion. Safe practices and supervision will be reviewed as well as the role of schools and the legal limits they currently face. A primary goal will be greater understanding and empowerment as a parent in an age when young people seem to embrace technology better than adults do and limits can be hard to establish, let alone enforce.

Charles Leitch is a Founding Principal of Patterson Buchanan Fobes & Leitch, Inc., P.S., a regional law firm with offices in Seattle and Portland with a focus on work with school districts. In addition to his practice, Leitch provides guidance, trainings and orientations on technology supervision, social networking, cyberbullying, and exploitation prevention nationally and internationally.

These lively events routinely include specific presentation formats for teenagers and parents. He is a member of multiple work groups and advisory boards nationally on technology supervision and best practices, including the Washington State’s Attorney General Youth Internet Safety Taskforce and Washington D.C.’s Ikeepsafe.org. Prior to his civil practice and work with emerging technology supervision, Leitch served as a prosecutor on the county and city level.

The presentations will be held on the following dates/times:

·         John Muir Elementary (Kirkland) – April 18, 7-9 p.m.

·          Rosa Parks Elementary (Redmond) – May 16, 7-9 p.m.

·         Christa McAuliffe Elementary (Sammamish) – May 23, 7-9 p.m.

·         Ben Franklin Elementary (Kirkland) – May 30, 7-9 p.m.