WTF? 'Devious licks' asks students via TikTok to 'smack a staff member.'

[Floyd R. Turbo]

Educators across the country are already overwhelmed with the chaos that is teaching during a pandemic. As if that weren’t enough, now they’re contending with a different kind of chaos: a TikTok trend that encourages students to cause havoc on campus. 

This month, that havoc could reach a new level, resulting in physical violence against teachers and other school employees. And the prospect has already-demoralized educators increasingly worried about the sustainability of their profession as it stands. 

In September, its inaugural month, the so-called “devious licks" trend challenged students to steal and vandalize school property. Teens across the country were arrested. 

According to a list that’s been circulating online, this month’s challenge is to “smack a staff member.” Challenges for subsequent months range from “mess up school signs” and “flip off the front office” to “kiss your friend’s girlfriend at school” and “jab a breast.” 


https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/education/2021/10/01/octobers-devious-licks-tiktok-challenge-smack-staff-member/5951623001/

[secondwind]

1. I'm all for free speech and all....

But these websites really are doing more harm than good... ugh

[Floyd R. Turbo]

2. Local schools had thousands of dollars in damages after the last challenge.

[Wounded Bear]

7. Inciting violence and encouraging criminal behavior isn't 'protected' speech...

[Hstch05]

3. I teach high school

and my wife is a high school principal . I can assure you that the bathroom BS was real; soap dispensers, stall doors, sinks, paper towel dispensers; none of them were safe. And even though we are only one day into the month, I don't haver any first-hand knowledge of teachers in my school getting smacked. I brought it up with my students, who are truly a good bunch of kids, and made sure they knew that if they physically assaulted a teacher, that could bring about criminal charges.

BUT there is hope! I was talking to some of the kids after school yesterday, and they were telling me that there has been some blowback against all of this negativity and vandalism from students online. There is now Angelic Yields and Virtuous Licks. Kids are going into bathrooms and cleaning them, bringing in bottles of hand soap to replace dispersers that were stolen, rolls of toilet paper, some are wearing tuxes and handing out hand towels and mints like old school bathroom attendants. The thought behind it is rather than making our schools shitty places we don't want to be, why not make them places we want to go and make the experience enjoyable.

So as in all things, the negative stuff gets the headlines and bandwidth, but good things are happening out there.

[Floyd R. Turbo]

4. Perhaps you should contact your local media about the good things being done by students.

[SWMO_8541]

8. Fantastic idea!

I’d like to see some good news on TV for a change!

[CRK7376]

10. The high school I teach in

has had one boys restroom open since the beginning of the school year. The restroom closest to my classroom had a sink damaged during the first week of school, the main bathroom near our caferteria does not have water for the the sinks, commodes and urinals flush but no water for hand washing is available due to vandalism....soap dispensers trashed too....sorry bunch of kids do this to our schools.....we do have plenty of had sanitizer located in all classrooms and hallways, still nice to have running water....

[CRK7376]

11. The high school I teach in

has had one boys restroom open since the beginning of the school year. The restroom closest to my classroom had a sink damaged during the first week of school, the main bathroom near our caferteria does not have water for the the sinks, commodes and urinals flush but no water for hand washing is available due to vandalism....soap dispensers trashed too....sorry bunch of kids do this to our schools.....we do have plenty of had sanitizer located in all classrooms and hallways, still nice to have running water....

[Tree-Hugger]

5. It's real

I haven't heard anything about smacked teachers, but last months several of our district schools found their bathrooms vandalized for this trend.

[imaginary girl]

6. Parks too

Our local schools had trouble with this, but so did our parks. Both men's restrooms at our local park had urinals and sinks removed last month.

[cinematicdiversions]

9. Violence at Hillsborough's Greco Middle School prompts call for help

Physical education teacher Christie Como, 47, said she was pushed and punched Tuesday by a 12-year-old student who held her down by the hair during a classroom disturbance. The Temple Terrace Police charged the student with felony battery.

“Individual children are getting beat up by gangs of students,” Como wrote in an email to the School Board, which she shared with the Tampa Bay Times Friday.

“We’re concerned about this situation at Greco,” said Stephanie Baxter-Jenkins, executive director of the teachers’ union. “Greco, like many of our schools, is currently understaffed, due to cuts and the inability to hire additional new people.”

She suggested students’ access to their phones has made matters worse. “If there weren’t cell phones on students, these attacks couldn’t be set up and students wouldn’t be notified of upcoming fights,” she wrote.

https://www.tampabay.com/news/education/2021/10/01/violence-at-hillsboroughs-greco-middle-school-prompts-call-for-help/?itm_source=parsely-api