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An Ohio couple has filed a lawsuit saying school officials failed to stop bullying that they claim led to their 17-year-old son's suicide.

The suit was filed in federal court last week, almost two years to the day when Eric Mohat shot himself in the head. Parents William and Janis Mohat say their son was taunted and harassed by classmates at Mentor High School for months before his death on March 27, 2007.

Their lawsuit accuses the school district about 25 miles northeast of Cleveland of violating the high school junior's civil right to safety.

The teen's father says they would drop the suit if the school system adopted tougher regulations on bullying.

Without commenting on the litigation, school officials say the district takes bullying seriously.

DEAKIN University internet expert Professor Matt Warren says technology holds no answer to fully protecting children from websites with dark and malicious content.

Prof Warren said the borderless nature of the internet and its social networks meant young people might always be exposed to sites such as those with information on suicide.

He spoke in response to a call by Geelong's Janssen family for the federal banning of sites, after the loss of their daughter, Taylor.

"Unfortunately there isn't a technical solution that can necessarily solve it," Prof Warren said.
"What the government is proposing is banning particular sites.
"The problem you then have is there are more social sites, like Myspace and Facebook, where the subjects are discussed. Does the government then ban Facebook or Myspace?
"It then comes down to computer ethics, making people aware of what the internet offers, making people aware that if they are depressed that they should seek help from families or professionals rather than resort to the internet.
"The problem with the internet is it can have very dark information."
Websites might be hosted in countries with more liberal laws than Australia.
"All of a sudden you're talking about a situation where you have global information and young people have access to that information," Prof Warren said.
"It's very hard to keep track of that, because in many cases young people are more technically aware than parents."
Access to internet from laptops and mobile phones made monitoring harder.

Prof Warren recommended worried parents talk to their children to try to find out what they were doing on the internet and said they might find help through the Federal Government's NetAlert program which aims to protect families on-line.

Learn more about the Government's NetAlert program here

Children will no longer have to study the Victorians or the second world war under proposals to overhaul the primary school curriculum, the Guardian has learned.

However, the draft plans will require children to master Twitter and Wikipedia and give teachers far more freedom to decide what youngsters should be concentrating on in classes.

The proposed curriculum, which would mark the biggest change to primary schooling in a decade, strips away hundreds of specifications about the scientific, geographical and historical knowledge pupils must accumulate before they are 11 to allow schools greater flexibility in what they teach.

It emphasises traditional areas of learning - including phonics, the chronology of history and mental arithmetic - but includes more modern media and web-based skills as well as a greater focus on environmental education.

The plans have been drawn up by Sir Jim Rose, the former Ofsted chief who was appointed by ministers to overhaul the primary school curriculum, and are due to be published next month.

The papers seen by the Guardian are draft plans for the detailed content of each of six core "learning areas" that Rose is proposing should replace the current 13 standalone subject areas.

The proposals would require:

Children to leave primary school familiar with blogging, podcasts, Wikipedia and Twitter as sources of information and forms of communication. They must gain "fluency" in handwriting and keyboard skills, and learn how to use a spellchecker alongside how to spell.

Children to be able to place historical events within a chronology. "By the end of the primary phase, children should have gained an overview which enables them to place the periods, events and changes they have studied within a chronological framework, and to understand some of the links between them." Every child would learn two key periods of British history but it would be up to the school to decide which ones. Schools would still be able to opt to teach Victorian history or the second world war, but they would not be required to. The move is designed to prevent duplication with the secondary curriculum, which covers the second world war extensively.

Less emphasis on the use of calculators than in the current curriculum.

An understanding of physical development, health and wellbeing programme, which would address what Rose calls "deep societal concerns" about children's health, diet and physical activity, as well as their relationships with family and friends. They will be taught about peer pressure, how to deal with bullying and how to negotiate in their relationships.

The six core areas are: understanding English, communication and languages, mathematical understanding, scientific and technological understanding, human, social and environmental understanding, understanding physical health and wellbeing, and understanding arts and design.

John Bangs, head of education at the National Union of Teachers, said: "It seems to jump on the latest trends such as Wikipedia and Twitter. Then it has very traditional descriptions of chronological teaching of history. It seems to be about trends on the one hand, then political pressure on the other hand - the government didn't want to look like it is scrapping traditional education. Computer skills and keyboard skills seem to be as important as handwriting in this. Traditional books and written texts are downplayed in response to web-based learning."

Teresa Cremin, president of the United Kingdom Literacy Association, said: "We are very pleased to see a higher profile given to oracy but we are concerned that there seems to be no drama in the upper primary years linked to literacy. But our main concern is that there is no emphasis on reading for pleasure or the enjoyment of literacy."

Mary Bousted, general secretary of the Association of Teachers and Lecturers, said: "They are much more sensible programmes of study. We are pleased they give the profession much more flexibility to meet the needs of their pupils. Children need to be enthused by learning, so they want to learn and gain the skills which will enable them to learn in later life. The debate is not about whether the Victorians are in there or not."

The leak led to a row when it emerged unions had been excluded from the consultation about what should be included, and subject specialists were given only three days to respond. Bousted said: "It's entirely unacceptable that it hasn't come to the teaching unions. Our members have to teach this. We've responded at all other stages of consultation. I don't know why we have been missed out now."

The Department for Children, Schools and Families, which initially refused to comment on the leaked report, issued a statement last night setting out its "general position" on history in primary schools. "Of course pupils in primary school will learn about major periods including the Romans, the Tudors and the Victorians and will be taught to understand a broad chronology of major events in this country and the wider world," it said.

Judge rules man must divulge what he's posted on private social website

Chatting with "friends" on social networking sites could have legal implications and turn Facebook users into their own worst enemies.

In a precedent-setting decision, a Toronto judge has ordered a man suing over injuries from a car accident to answer questions about content on his Facebook page that is off limits to the public.

Lawyers for Janice Roman, the defendant in the lawsuit, believe information posted on John Leduc's private Facebook site – normally accessible only to his approved "friends" – may be relevant to his claim an accident in Lindsay in 2004 lessened his enjoyment of life.

As a result of the ruling by Justice David Brown of Ontario's Superior Court of Justice, Leduc must now submit to cross-examination by Roman's lawyers about what his Facebook page contains.

Brown's Feb. 20 ruling also makes clear that lawyers must now explain to their clients "in appropriate cases" that postings on Facebook or other networking sites – such as MySpace, LinkedIn and even blogs – may be relevant to allegations in a lawsuit, said Tariq Remtulla, a Toronto lawyer who has been following the issue.

This could easily apply in a personal injury case in which a litigant claims his or her quality of life has been affected, Remtulla said.

"If you are alleging that, as a result of an accident, you have not been able to enjoy life the same way and there is a photo taken after the accident showing you skiing or exercising ... that could be relevant," the civil litigation and intellectual property lawyer said in an interview yesterday.

What's on Facebook might also matter in insurance cases or family law cases where there's a dispute over custody, Remtulla suggested. Photos, for example, could reveal something about a parent's living conditions.

Facebook is a free social networking website where users can set up a "personal profile" and post photos, messages, notes, music, videos and information about their interests and activities.

Users can also exercise privacy options that restrict access to authorized "friends."

Leduc chose to limit access to his site, posting only his name and picture on his public profile.

Roman's lawyers found out about his Facebook page in 2007. When they could not get access to it, they went to court, asking that he be ordered to produce its content.

Both sides in a civil lawsuit must produce any documents that could be relevant to the litigation, whether in hard copy or electronic form.

Last year, however, a Superior Court case management master dismissed the request, accusing Roman's lawyers of going on a "fishing expedition."

The master, Ronald Dash, was not prepared to conclude, on the basis of what little information existed on Leduc's public Facebook profile, that what remained hidden from view was relevant.

Dash likened it to a diary or photo album. Just because they exist doesn't mean they contain relevant information, he said.

But Brown took a different view.


"Facebook profiles are not designed to function as diaries; they enable users to construct personal networks or communities of `friends' with whom they can share information about themselves, and on which `friends' can post information about the user," he said.

A court can infer that Leduc's Facebook site "likely contains some content relevant to the issue of how Mr. Leduc has been able to lead his life since the accident," Brown said.

Brown said Leduc can't "hide behind self-set privacy controls" on a website that's all about telling others about one's life.