Many high school students will be harassed or have their reputation damaged on social media at some point, but that doesn’t mean those students can’t do anything about it.
Students have options whether the harassment happens during school hours or not, and even if the harasser hides behind an anonymous account.
One of the first steps students can take when harassed or negatively mentioned on social media is they can report it to the school resource officer, Bart White.
White said students have several options in this situation.
The first option is a new thing that the school started this year, where the school would have the student get with the person who made the post and try to work things out together.
If that does not work, students can press charges.
White said that in order to press charges, the person who made the negative post would have had to threaten the student or have made other alarming comments. Students will need real proof–like screenshots–in order to be able to press charges.
If the threat goes far enough, it could result in a felony charge. Felonies are more serious than misdemeanors, and if a student were to get convicted of a felony, there are many consequences such as maybe having to do jail time and also not being able to do certain things, such as get a good job.
Students can come to White if they want to press charges inside the school, which is appropriate when the harassment or bullying happened between two school students.
If it occurs with a student at another school, students can file a complaint at the office of a Court Designated Worker (CDW) which is a branch of law enforcement that processes complaints filed against children under age 18. The CDW also handles things that happen outside the school hours.
It is located at the Boone County Justice Center on Rogers Lane in Burlington, and students will need to bring proof of the harassment and bullying.
If the person who said things to a student is hiding behind an anonymous account, White said there are ways to uncover who it is. He said he can send a warrant to the company that is hosting the content, who can then put a hold on the account and uncover who it is.
In some cases, the school administrators can address these situations and direct students not to have any contact outside of school.
