Bathroom misconduct, social media threats worry students
“Myself and many of my peers feel like the majority of us are being affected because of the unchecked actions of a select few that are reportedly just getting away with it.”
NEW FAIRFIELD — Acts of misconduct and social media threats since the start of the school year have created a looming sense of unease and vulnerability in students at the high school.
That’s what New Fairfield High School senior and student representative Cayden Walker shared with the Board of Education last week at the request of his peers, who he said asked him to let the board know they feel unsafe in school.
Walker said seemingly unchecked misconduct at the high school, coupled with rumored threats of violence, have been negatively impacting students’ social-emotional well-being and learning.
“Myself and many of my peers feel like the majority of us are being affected because of the unchecked actions of a select few that are reportedly just getting away with it,” Walker said.
For example, he said, “the bathrooms — particularly the boys’ bathrooms — have been repeatedly trashed/destroyed, and there’s reportedly been nobody punished for this.”
Superintendent Pat Cosentino told Hearst Connecticut Media
Cayden Walker, New Fairfield High School senior
those incidents were connected to a “TikTok challenge to vandalize bathrooms.”
“Social media has just invaded our kids’ lives and these challenges are very difficult because they’re not thinking and they’re doing stupid things,” she said.
Cosentino did not say whether anyone was held responsible for the bathroom vandalism, but said school officials “took care of that as best we could.”
“After that happened,” she said, “somebody anonymously went in and put flowers in the bathroom and a little welcome mat to remind students that this is our school and we need to keep it in good shape and take care of it.”
Walker said concerns he and his peers already have about in-school safety and well-being were worsened by last week’s social media threats of school violence.
The TikTok threat of violence at schools on Dec. 17 — which prompted an increased police presence at schools not only in New Fairfield, but in other area towns as well — was not the school district’s only social media concern last week.
Cosentino said there was also a “disturbing Instagram message” brought to school officials’ attention Wednesday night, which implied there was a “hit list” with 100 to 150 New Fairfield High School students’ names on it.
Like the middle school TikTok threat, authorities deemed the Instagram message not credible.
“There is no hit list. There was never a hit list,” Cosentino said Thursday, promising that the person responsible for the post would face “severe consequences.”
By Friday, a student had confessed to posting the message. Cosentino said Tuesday that the student “has been disciplined appropriately.”
Still, the district reported 1,013 students were absent Friday, Dec. 17, including 440 at the high school and 280 at the middle school.
Walker said feeling “left in the dark” about what was going on last week only compounded students’ worries and concerns.
“Of all the threats, we really only had one announcement in school, which didn’t necessarily do a whole lot to soothe the anxieties,” he said Thursday.
“A lot of people just feel like they’re being left out, they’re unsafe and there’s just not enough measures being taken — proactively or even reactively — (regarding) these sorts of threats,” he said.
While she understands students’ desire to know what’s going on, Cosentino said there are reasons why not everything is shared.
“I think one of the things students are unaware of is that it’s best practice not to announce things over the loud speaker because that can trigger other students,” she said.
“If something’s brought to our attention, we always follow up and deal with it — but unfortunately, due to privacy issues, students and staff don’t always know how it’s dealt with.”
In addition to last week’s TikTok and Instagram posts, Cosentino said she thinks the anniversary of the 2012 Sandy Hook tragedy, as well as the recent school shooting in Oxford, Mich., has everyone “on edge.”
To improve safety and hopefully alleviate some student concerns, Cosentino said she and her administrative team are working to “tighten up” some of the district’s security protocols.
Cosentino said one thing she plans to propose is a new policy that would require middle and high school students to wear student IDs in school and when they board school buses.