From Diane Hartman, the McHenry County Regional Superintendent of Education:
ROE to Host Free Virtual Cybersecurity Course for Parents
WOODSTOCK, Ill. – The McHenry County Regional Office of Education is offering a free virtual class to educate parents about how to keep their children safe when it comes to technology.
The Cyber Guide for Parents course takes place from 7:30 to 9 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 15, and is being offered in both English and Spanish; the Zoom link for English is
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88940522652, and the Zoom link for Spanish is https://bit.ly/3D1aifC.
The course will be taught by Richard Wistocki, a child crime expert and retired police detective with more than 30 years of law enforcement experience, 22 of them as an internet crimes investigator with the Naperville Police Department.
He was one of the founding members of the Illinois Attorney General’s Crimes Against Children Task Force and a member of the US Secret Service Computer Crimes Task Force; he also has authored Illinois laws regarding sexting and sexual exploitation of children.
Wistocki is president of BeSure Consulting, which specializes in educating parents and students about online safety.
“Technology and the internet are now an inseparable part of children’s lives – but while it presents tremendous opportunity, there are dangerous people who can, and do, use it to target them,” Regional Superintendent of Schools Diana Hartmann said. “
The free course we’re offering, from one of the foremost experts in the field, will help parents protect their children online.”
Topics that the presentation will cover
- cyber-bullying,
- understanding your child’s phone apps,
- internet predators, the dangers of online gaming,
- the dangers of posting photos and videos to social media,
- file sharing,
- sexting,
- how to control and monitor computers and smart phones, and
- how to have technology talks with children.
For more information, call 815-334-4475, or email DKHartmann@mchenrycountyil.gov.
