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The Davie County School System is doing what it can to help keep children safe – and that includes from online predators.

But the fight to keep them safe should be a community effort, school officials said.

A recent news report about a girl being lured from her home on an online chat room on a school-issued computer brought the matter to the forefront.

“We are being proactive in preventing accessibility of chat rooms on school devices,” said Superintendent Jeff Wallace, via an announcement sent to parents last week. “We want to assure you that the specific chat room that was used in these crimes is not accesssible on (Davie) school-issued devices.”

He acknowledges that blocking all accessibility to chat rooms is not feasible, as new rooms pop up constantly.

“There are also devices our children have access to every day that are not school-owned devices,” he said. “Therefore, we hope you will have a conversation with your child about the dangers of communicating with strangers online and take an active role in monitoring their online activity.

“With so many advances in technology, and so much being done virutally these days, kids are online more than ever and must be cautious. Preventative measures like these are imperative to keep our children safe.”