This past week I received a sex offender notification from the Farmingdale School District alerting me that a level 3 sex offender now resides within the boundaries of the Farmingdale School District. The letter, as always, provided the web sites and phone numbers to obtain further information (www.parentsformeganslaw.com, www.criminaljustice.state.ny.us and the NCPD Special Victims Squad -573-8059). I strongly suggest that any parents and families with children visit these sites to learn about the offenders who live within our area. If you do not have children in the school system you can sign up for the Sex Offender Email Alert Program on the Parents for Megan's Law website. This will keep you notified. I want to remind all families with children to review with your children and grandchildren safety procedures and the dangers of speaking with strangers. A day after receiving the letter I then read an article in Newsday about the dangers of MySpace. It warned of the increasing dangers of sexual predators on youth oriented websites such as MySpace. While the benefits of the World Wide Web are great, we also have to realize that there are people out there who will use the increasing technology to get at children. As parents we need to monitor our children's usage of the web, know where they are chatting and continually remind them of the dangers out there. I also came across an article on www.missingkids.com entitled My Rules for Online Safety. I hope you will share these rules with your family members:

• I will not give out personal information such as my address, telephone number, parents' or guardians' work address/telephone number, or the name and location of my school without my parents' or guardians' permission. I will not give out my Internet password(s) to anyone - even my best friends - other than my parents or guardians.

• I will tell my parents or guardians right away if I come across any information that makes me feel scared, uncomfortable, or confused.

• I will never agree to get together with someone I first "meet" online without checking with my parents or guardians. If they agree to the meeting, I will be sure it is in a public place and bring my parent or guardian along.

• I will never send a person my picture or anything else without first checking with my parents or guardians.

• I will not respond to any messages that are mean or in any way make me feel scared, uncomfortable, or confused. It is not my fault if I get a message like that. If I do I will tell a trusted adult right away so they can contact the online service.

• I will talk with my parents or guardians so we can set up rules for going online. We will decide upon the time of day I can be online, the length of time I can be online and appropriate areas for me to visit. I will not access other areas or break these rules without their permission.

• I will practice good "netiquette" by not hurting other people or breaking the law.

We must never become complacent when it comes to protecting our children. Please pass this information along.