Superintendent says there are consequences for students who follow along.
Frederick, Md (KM) There was some recent bathroom vandalism at some Frederick County middle and high schools which could be related to last month’s challenge posted on the social media platform Tik Tok, according to Superintendent of Schools Dr. Theresa Alban, who was a guest on WFMD’s Morning News Express on Friday.
The September challenge on Tik Tok encouraged students to destroy their schools’ bathrooms, and post a Video of it on the social media platform. Dr. Alban says there are penalties for students who are caught doing something like this. “We really hope our students will have learned this is not the way to go, and can lead to a lot of serious consequences for them,” she said.
Dr. Alban went on to say that parents are responsible for the costs of vandalism at school committed by their children.
An October challenge on Tik Tok calls on students to punch a teacher, record it on their smartphones, and send it off to Tik Tok. “Hit it a teacher, it’s assault, and it moves into a whole different category,” says Dr. Alban. “If even with the vandalism, there can other consequences outside of ‘I might get in trouble in school,'” she says. That could include getting the police involved, according to a School System spokesman.
Dr. Alban says the School System has sent out messages to families to remind them about the seriousness of incidents like these. “Encouraging them to monitor their child’s use of social media, and make sure that’s not something that they participate in,” she says.
With these messages, Dr. Alban says the School System is not taking over the role of the parents. “In this case, we were asking parents to help us by doing that. By paying attention to what their child is doing on social media and being aware by talking to their child about it,”: she says. “Because if the child comes into school and participate in the challenge. we then move into a disciplinary role.”
By Kevin McManus