The world has never been more connected. In an instant, a picture can be taken and emailed to others. While certainly there are advantages, there is a darker side.
    Parents and teens all over Canada, including Drumheller, are being taught how to be safe using the latest social technology, especially in regards to sexting, where people send pictures or messages of a sexual nature to one another.
    inSide Drumheller spoke with the Drumheller RCMP and local schools to find out what is being done locally about sexting.
    The RCMP host presentations throughout the year to teach students and parents about the dangers of an increasingly digital world.
    “A lot of the students have been spoken to in a number of different ways. Any incident that comes too close to it that we hear of, we discuss with the kids,” said Staff Sergeant Art Hopkins. “A lot of it is not done with the intent to traffic pornography, the kids may not understand what they are doing. That picture could come back to haunt them many years after the fact.”
    The RCMP have hosted sessions for both junior and senior high students.
    “They’re great presentations, because they talk about everything. Nothing is taboo, which is great. The kids are talking about it anyway, so to hide it from them won’t make it go away,” said Amber Channell, Family School Liaison Worker for St. Anthony’s School.
    At Drumheller Valley Secondary School, the “No Regrets” campaign has touched upon sexting.
    “We spend a lot of time and energy teaching our students about using digital devices responsibly. We have addressed the issues of texting, appropriate use of texting, and sexting.We just finished a year-and-a-half campaign, our No Regrets campaign, which didn’t deal with sexting specifically, but talked about healthy relationships and how to identify a relationship when it’s not healthy,” said principal Curtis LaPierre.
    Teachers are also ready to help students one-on-one should issues arise.
    “After these presentations, I had students come in being upset and admitting they had sent pictures of themselves. They began to realize the dangers of some of the things they had done,” said Channell.
    However, both the schools and RCMP agree, if sexting is to stop, parents must get involved.
    “With anything that impacts the lives of students, especially in a negative way, schools get involved. If we find issues like that, we always call the parents and inform them of what is going on,” said LaPierre.
    “There have been a small number of issues at this time. I think it’s very important for parents to monitor what their child is doing with their digital devices and some parameters be put in place. If they’re using their phones in an inappropriate way, maybe it’s time to remove that privilege.”
    A proactive approach, it is suggested, is for parents to speak with their children about sexting.
    “There is education being done, but parents need to talk to their kids about their phones and the consequences of what they send,” said Hopkins.
    The best approach, LaPierre suggests, is to tackle the issue head on.
    “Don’t beat around the bush, get right to the point, and put everything on the table. I’ve found kids appreciate that approach more. It’s amazing what kids will take ownership of with direct communication and if there’s been an issue, generally they will tell you,” said LaPierre.

    Prairie Land Regional Division (PLRD) released its 2013 budget and the school division is expecting a balanced budget and is moving forward on two key initiatives this year.
    “We’re pretty well looking at a balanced operating budget,” said Wes Neumeier, superintendent of PLRD. “Even though our J.C. Charyk renovation project wasn’t part of the initial funding announcement from Alberta Education, we’re still going to move forward on it.”
    Initially, the school division had hoped Alberta Education would fund a large-scale renovation of J.C. Charyk School to accommodate a K-12 program. They are hopeful for an announcement in the fall, but decided to begin renovations over the summer.
    The plan is to renovate the CTS lab, food services, and gather areas. The renovations would also be an opportunity to incorporate green technology, such as wind, solar, and biodiesal instruction.
    “We’re going to modernize the program and integrate green technologies into the program,” said Neumeier.
    In addition to the renovations, PLRD has set aside funding to purchase 12 new buses over the next two years.
    “We’re going to have to use some reserves, but the board reviewed our needs in transportation. We have an aging fleet with significant maintenance issues and the reliability of our buses are not where we want. We’re going to, over the next two years, replace 12 of those buses,” said Neumeier.
    The new initiatives are not without their cost. PLRD cut administration costs by ten per cent.
    “It was a standard government policy to cut administration by ten per cent. There will be reductions in travel, professional development, and staff will be reallocated to instructional support,” said Neumeier. “A learning organization thrives on professional development. In the long run, cutting back on it reduces your capacity to be relevant.”
    The creation of a balanced budget was aided by changes to how Alberta Education funds school divisions.
    “Corrections to the density formula, or the equity of opportunity grant in particular brought greater recognition to the high cost of education in sparse areas. Our schools are impacted a lot by sparsity, so re-examining that made the funding coming to Prairie Land more representative of the costs incurred by us,” said Neumeier.
    There is still room for improvement, however, in helping rural areas balance the books.
    “We’re still encouraging the government to re-examine the Fuel Price Contingency Grant and to reinstate it and to review the density factor for transportation, because it’s still capped at half of what we need in Prairie Land,” said Neumeier.
    It is expected renovations will commence once summer holidays begin at the end of June.