WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. - Westchester County has hired an expert on "cyberbullying" to talk to students, teachers, parents and police about young people who harass their peers with mean-spirited Web sites, hounding text messages, invasive cell-phone photos and other high-tech tools.
Parry Aftab, executive director of wiredsafety.org, will conduct a "summit" on the issue Feb. 8 at the Westchester County Center, County Executive Andrew Spano announced Tuesday.
She will be assisted by Spider-Man under an arrangement between her organization and Marvel Enterprises Inc. "Kids will listen to him," she said, pointing at a man in a Spidey outfit during a news conference.
Aftab said that while schoolyard bullying has always been a problem among young teenagers, "We didn't have the power to communicate what we were doing to 700 million people with a click."
