Board hears from Digital Defenders

RIO RANCHO — It was a sweet school board meeting on Monday evening, filled with positive vibes as attendees heard from the Rio Rancho Public Schools Digital Defenders, a group of elementary school students dedicated to digital literacy and online safety.

“It’s always sweet when we have the Pledge of Allegiance and we get to hear our elementary school voices out there,” said school board president Amanda Galbraith as the meeting got under way.

The Digital Defenders after-school program is a Google Kids Initiative. It is supported by a two-year, $78,000 grant from NMCT Technology, which began in January.

“The New Mexico attorney general, Google and the New Mexico Community Trust teamed up to offer this grant opportunity,” said Terri Meier, RRPS director of education technology, in an email. “I’ve always wanted to do more with digital citizenship and RRPS.”

As well as teaching kids about digital citizenship and online safety, the Digital Defenders program also trains teachers on how to bring the program to their own schools. So far, the RRPS Digital Defenders program has trained 11 teachers.

The program was spearheaded by Meier and Selena Lammers, an RRPS ed tech.

“I sat down with (Lammers), and we started brainstorming ideas,” said Meier. “We completed the grant application for our digital citizenship plan ... We made it to the finals. We had an interview. And some time later we were awarded $78,000 for two years to implement our Digitial Citizenship Plan.”

On Monday night, Meier told the school board the participating students got to have fun while learning as well as spread the word about digital citizenship and online safety to others.

“Every Digital Defender got a T-shirt,” she said. “They also got capes and masks they can wear. And we bought 150 titles ... like ‘Chicken Clicking’ and ‘Nerdy Birdy Tweets’ and ‘How to Be Safe Online’ and they read these books to the other kids.”

Sandia Vista ed tech Tiffany Hale spoke next, introducing the student speakers for the evening. Fourth graders Kaya and Aaron of Sandia Vista Elementary School spoke about their experiences in the program.

“We were able to make things and (use) Canva to teach others how to not be a cyber bully and read books about how to not be addicted to the technology,” said Kaya. “We also learned how to protect our digital footprint.”

“I liked how we learned what to do on devices and what to do if we click on something that doesn’t look safe,” said Aaron. “We also learned how to protect ourselves from hackers.”

Next to speak was the ed tech at Martin Luther King Jr. Elementary, Melissa Eisenberg, who is also the advisor to MLK’s Digital Defenders group.

“We met for eight weeks where students got together to learn about how to defend themselves online,” she said. “They also participated in STEAM night where they talked to families about how to be Digital Defenders.”

Delilah, a fourth grader at MLK, spoke last.

“I liked it when we got to design our own video game that was about being kind and staying safe while playing online video games with others,” she said.

Superintendent Sue Cleveland expressed gratitude on behalf of the board and the community.

“One of the concerns we all have is keeping our children safe when using technology,” she told the teachers. “It’s wonderful that they’ve learned those things and they could share them with other students, and it’s a really vibrant group of clubs. So, we thank the sponsors and everyone who works with (Digital Defenders).”

The RRPS Digital Defenders After School Club has 182 participating students across 11 elementary schools. They’ve distributed 793 Digital Citizenship Books, according to Meier.

With the success of Digitial Defenders under the Google Kids Initiative, Meier said she is planning to find additional funding to keep it going after funding expires at the end of 2025.

“I hope to find funding to continue with this program,” she told the Observer. “(Community Impact Director for New Mexico Community Trust Khia Griffis) was in attendance at last night’s board meeting and said that we can discuss additional funding to continue.”

For more information about the Digital Defenders in your area, visit rrps.net.