MOULTRIE – R.B. Wright Elementary School has been recognized by the national nonprofit organization Common Sense as a Common Sense School.

Common Sense is dedicated to helping provide children and families with safe technology and media. R.B. Wright demonstrated the necessary approaches and responsibilities needed to be recognized as a Common Sense School.

Common Sense Schools are committed to the implementation of the Common Sense Digital Citizenship curriculum. Schools who would like to be recognized as Common Sense Schools will need to follow the ‘Learn, Do, Reflect’ steps in order to successfully complete the criteria needed.  

That criteria includes preparing a Common Sense school implementation plan. In turn, that Plan includes an in-person professional development session led by Common Sense staff, a Common Sense Ambassador, or a school project lead; attending a Common Sense webinar and completing online Digital Citizenship Curriculum Training.

“We applaud the faculty and staff of R.B. Wright for embracing digital citizenship as an important part of their students’ education,” said Liz Kline, vice president of education programs at Common Sense Education via press release. “R.B. Wright deserves high praise for giving its students the foundational skills they need to compete and succeed in the 21st-century workplace and participate ethically in society at large.”

R.B. Wright has been using Common Sense Education’s research-based digital citizenship resources, which are grounded in the real issues students and teachers might face in the digital landscape. Teaching students to become a digital citizen through the digital citizenship lessons is also one of the criteria for becoming a recognized Common Sense school.

“Through the county we are required to do so many digital citizenship lessons in grades 3 through 5. So we started using Common Sense’s curriculum to help better our students” said Jessica Webb, instructional technology specialist at Wright Elementary. “We were already headed in that direction. We decided to carry it out fully and use Common Sense’s curriculum.”

These resources teach students, their parents and teachers the necessary and tangible skills needed to maintain internet safety, a good online reputation and personal privacy.

“We’re honored to be recognized as a Common Sense School,” said Summer Hall, Principal at R.B. Wright, via press release. “By preparing our students to use technology safely and responsibly, we are providing them an opportunity to build lifelong habits to help them succeed in tech-driven world.”

Common Sense is currently accepting applications between Aug. 19 and June 30, 2020.

“The county has really put a push on this so that we can help prepare our kids,” said Webb. “Since our kids use Chromebooks every day, it’s important that they are safe. We want them to learn how to use social media and the internet in a respectful and responsible way.

There are plans to implement more lessons throughout the year, according to Webb, including robotics and software coding.

“It’s so important that we teach our kids to make safe and responsible decisions while their online. We want to raise our kids so they’re prepared,” said Webb.