SAVANNAH SCHMIDT
Wendy Story, the principal at Shades Cahaba Elementary School, gives a lecture on the right time to give children technology access on Nov. 12, 2024. Parents can attend these Homewood Connected informational meetings virtually or in person at Homewood City Schools. Photo by Savannah Schmidt.
Navigating the evolving world of technology and social media can be a scary and lonely experience for parents of young children and teens. However, Homewood City Schools’ new program, Homewood Connected, is designed to help parents understand the dangers of technology and establish guardrails for their children.
Led by Carissa Anthony, the program’s prevention and collaborative coordinator, Homewood Connected is designed to educate parents about the risks that come with social media and online gaming, while providing a network of supportive peers. When it comes to managing smartphones, computers and game consoles, Anthony said it is important for parents to know they’re not alone.
“I think it's hard to be the parent. You feel like you're the only parent that's not letting your child game online or you're the only parent that does not want to give your child a smartphone," she said. "It's hard to be the only one. So really, our long-term goal is for parents to know that they're not the only ones."
Homewood Connected grew out of the Safe & Healthy Homewood Collaborative, the school system’s healthy youth development program. Anthony said the idea to focus on the perils of social media came from discussions with middle school and high school Peer Helpers.
"It really came from the students saying that they felt like social media in particular was harming their friends," she said.
Anthony and other stakeholders decided to address the issue after looking into mental health challenges among young people. Soon after, the Homewood Police Department made them aware of FBI information about an increasing number of children being targeted by extortion or predatory behavior through the chat features in gaming platforms.
"It just came together, and we thought this is something where we can reach out to parents and help give them as many tools as possible on how to keep their children safe and to kind of think about social media and gaming from more of a developmental perspective of what's appropriate at what age,” Anthony said.
Anthony said the community feedback has been tremendous, due in large part to parents who were among the first to grow up in the connected digital age.
"The parents of young children now actually were the first young people who were exposed to Myspace and Facebook, and it was the Wild West," Anthony said. "What I sense is that parents, particularly the parents of elementary-age students, are very concerned about it and they're the ones driving this and wanting to do more to identify ways to protect their children."
Homewood Connected offers many ways for parents to stay informed and engaged, including a monthly newsletter, planning guides to help parents implement a technology strategy and system-wide guidelines for safe and healthy technology use.
They also schedule regular community education programs at the Homewood Board of Education, also made available via Google Meet.
Learn more about Homewood Connected or become involved at homewood.k12.al.us/Page/4815.
