ASHLAND — After Jesse Weinberger, an internet safety expert, advised an Ashland audience on internet safety last year, the district wanted to do something to equip parents to talk to their students about it.
Enter: Project Pavise, a grant focused on internet safety and well-being for Ashland City Schools’ fifth and sixth grade students.
Ashland City Schools Supt. Steve Paramore and chief innovation officer Ben Spieldenner presented the project to the board at its latest meeting.
Spieldenner explained a “pavise” is a shield that covers the whole body, used during the mid-14th to early 16th centuries. The project was called “Project Pavise” because it aims to provide students with a shield to protect themselves from the dangers of the internet.
The project gives fifth and sixth graders boxes equipped with stickers, a t-shirt, and a pair of journals — one for parents, and one for students. Spieldenner said he wrote both journals.
The journals’ purpose is to offer conversation starters for parents. That way, they’ll have a tool to help them talk with their students, who Spieldenner said likely know more about technology than their parents.
According to a press release about the project from Ashland City Schools, it is funded by donors:
- The Samaritan Hospital Foundation
- The Ashland City Schools Foundation
- The Ashland County Community Foundation
Taft Intermediate School fifth graders will receive the boxes Sept. 30. The campaign will finish there Oct. 27.
Then, Ashland Middle School students will engage in the Pavise content from Oct. 28 to Nov. 23.
Spieldenner said a website for the project will be up and running by the end of the week. For more information, you can visit: https://projectpavise.org/.
