Administration talks online harassment policy

In light of the recent controversy at Seamen High, the administrators of Manhattan High have had to take a look inside of their own campus following an alleged incident involving the suspension of an unnamed male student. Principal Greg Hoyt declined to comment on the situation due to privacy of students in disciplinary issues.

Administrators focus on a record and report approach to incidents involving inappropriate photos, relying mostly on evidence based cases they can report to the police. They stress students should always turn to parents and trusted adults when such incidents occur.

“If we’re made aware, we will report that to the police in addition to trying to determine if there’s punishment that should occur at the school,” assistant principal Michael Dorst said. “We want to make sure the students are aware that not only is it illegal but there’s far-reaching social and emotional damages that can be done.”

A new age of technological advances and social media apps has only further perpetuated the difficulties surrounding bringing perpetrators to justice.

“I will say it’s a really hard thing for us to address because it’s hard especially when stuff disappears on Snapchat, I don’t know, we just can’t look everything up,” counselor Erin Spreer said. “We can’t see everything.”

While it is the job of administrators to report cases to the authorities, they discourage students from engaging in such activities at all, even if the relationship is consensual at the time. Despite the circumstances of how these these incidents occur, they urge students to confide in a trusted adult, teacher or the authorities.  

“Whether there’s threats involved, obviously that’s a little bit different,” Spreer said. “I would still hope they wouldn’t send those and, you know, report that to someone if they are being threatened.”

The level of school involvement varies based on if the incident took place at school or off campus. Regardless of where it took place, all incident reports are taken seriously by administrators.

“We’re wanting to avoid anything that’s inappropriate or illegal and we hope the police can handle it,” Dorst said.

When it comes to protecting students, the school has a policy of making sure both the victims and perpetrators are able to receive a quality education as well as proper punishment and safety within the building. As to how students can better protect themselves from these incidents, administration can only try to influence their students to make the right decisions.

“Just try really hard not to let pictures of yourself get out there and to try and be preventative in the first place,” Spreer said. “If anybody has let stuff out there, I mean, just try to learn from it and not let that out again.”