Fischler School and FBI Formalize Partnership to Fight Online Predators

Nova Southeastern University and the FBI formalized their partnership recently to develop and administer the FBI-SOS (Safe Online Surfing) program. H. Wells Singleton, Education Provost/University Dean of the Fischler School of Education and Human Services, and Jonathan Solomon of the FBI, signed a Memo of Understanding at the FBI Field Office in Miami.

Developed jointly by the FBI Crimes Against Children unit and the Fischler School’s Common Knowledge Scholarship Foundation, the unique program educates middle school students about the potential dangers of online predators.  The web-based program requires nothing more than an internet connection and browser making it easy to implement.  Through a grant from the Deaver Foundation, along with corporate sponsorship the program is free to every middle school in the United States.

Piloted by NSU’s University School in the spring of 2005, the FBI-SOS program has been adopted by the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business Management 100 program for implementation in the Philadelphia area.  The program is expected to be implemented in each of the FBI’s 56 field office cities in the fall of 2006.