What this is
Documented procedures for responding to technology-mediated incidents — cyberbullying, AI-generated harassment, deepfakes, sextortion, AI misuse by students or staff, and data breaches. Defines roles, communication pathways, and coordination with mental health staff, law enforcement, and families.
Why it matters
Tech-mediated incidents are happening in every district. A documented protocol turns response into something districts can do consistently — supporting students, managing legal exposure, and capturing prevention insight. Deepfake harassment and sextortion in particular have escalated faster than most district protocols have kept up.
Connects to
The Framework: Condition #6 (Home/School/Community Partnership). Tightly paired with Counseling & Mental Health Integration (3.7). Distinct from 2.4 (Academic Integrity in the AI Era), which handles teacher response to suspected AI cheating; 3.8 owns the district-level safety-incident response work.
Maturity levels
Go deeper with
- REMS Technical Assistance Center (U.S. Department of Education) — broader incident-response framework: prevention, mitigation, response, recovery
- National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) — sextortion response guidance for schools
- Cyberbullying Research Center — district protocol templates
- Thorn — sextortion and image-based abuse resources
- State Attorney General and state DOE incident-reporting guidance
- MS-ISAC — K-12 cybersecurity incident-sharing and coordinated response