On Wednesday, April 20th, Eastview high school was alarmed to see what a sophomore student had posted on his Facebook wall as well as on his Twitter account. These posts contained aggressive, eerie, and threatening meanings that the school administration just couldn’t look past. The updates, speculated by those close to the student, were a result of a constant struggle with hurtful words and exclusive actions made by other students.
Facebook and Twitter has become the bullet to many destroyed careers and educations. In Eastview’s case, the student was expelled and immediately brought to a detention center until the police department and the school’s administration could Take proper action. After the incident, many students were unsure how the situation had been resolved. The current status of what had happened was still a mysterious combination of online rumors and speculated ideas conjured up by ignorant high school students.
“I didn’t know what to believe,” says senior Averi Haugesag. “I wasn’t so sure whether or not being at school was even safe.”
The school was holding information back from the students and the public until they could clearly determine the entire situation and produce a solid statement.
“There were so many versions of the story spreading around”, continues Haugesag “I had no idea what was truth and what I could forget about.”
The dangers of threatening posts can carry further than the poster had originally thought. What some see as harmless venting via the internet; can be interpreted as violent idealism by others.
It is unsure to the students if what the boy said was the beginning of yet another act of violence against a school or if his only goal was to gain some much needed attention from anyone who would listen.
Many student’s skin crawled as they opened up the haunting twitter updates that read “Forgive me, God, for what I am about to do. I am going to bring the walls of Eastview crashing down.” As well as “It’s my birthday next week and all I want is for Eastview to disappear.”
Nobody knows for certain what the students intentions were, but with the help of the internet and a few discomforting posts, the student’s actions were immediately halted and the proper precautions could be taken.
However, there is another side to the power of Facebook and Twitter. Diego Perez, a senior at Eastview, says that he knows someone who had been suspended for three days forburning a picture of a boy in the parking lot long after school had ended.
There was a controversy over whether or not this should be taken as a threat or just an act of teenage drama.
The fine line between what is considered harmless and what is seen as threatening is sometimes very hard to distinguish.
“I think students should have the right to express themselves online,” continues Perez. “The school administration should only become involved with what we say [online] when we endanger other people.”
The schools administrative leaders could not be reached for a statement due to conflicting schedules. They just want students to keep a sharp eye on what they say online so the question ‘Should we do something about what has been said’ doesn’t need to be asked in the first place.
Kids should watch what they post to avoid starting the conflict No one has time to deal with it and a student doesn’t want to have something they said out of a temporary fit of anger or frustration stick with them the rest of their life.
