Okaloosa students debut PSA on online harassment at school board meeting

Students from the Okaloosa County Youth Leadership Council showed the Board a student-produced public-service announcement on online harassment at the school board meeting on March 23.

The video, introduced by Cameron Ross, vice chair of the Youth Leadership Council, dramatizes the effect of social media bullying on a student athlete. "We pitched a script about a student athlete going through some just trials with people online, like, telling her that she wasn't worth enough and she didn't really even deserve to live," Ross said, describing why the council picked the topic.

Superintendent Chambers and county Commissioner Drew Palmer joined board members in praising the students and the production. Palmer called the council partnership "the best part of being a county commissioner" and credited students with developing the ideas, writing the script and leading the project. District staff noted Fort Walton Beach High School's digital media team helped with production.

Chambers said the district will "run that through our student services department and make sure we push that out to all appropriate age groups," signaling the video may be shared within schools after staff review. Board members urged parent engagement and celebrated the students' leadership; the board presented district coins to the students after the presentation.

The meeting record shows the board offered unanimous praise and no policy action was taken at the meeting related to the video. The school district did not announce specific distribution dates at the meeting.