TWIN FALLS, Idaho — As social media becomes a growing concern for parents and schools, Jerome and Twin Falls school districts are taking initiatives to help keep children safe while scrolling.
The districts have come together and are offering a free parent education night that is open to all parents across the Magic Valley. The event will focus on social media safety for students.
“Since the COVID epidemic and more access to computers and technology, we have definitely seen an an uptake in the number of social media driven situation that we’ve had in our district,” said Kim Lickey, federal program director for Jerome Schools.
Recent social media trends have proven threatening and distracting.
“We’ve had instances where schools have had to go into lockdown because of social media threats. We’ve had instances where classes are canceled because of those things… This event is really an opportunity to partner with parents in addressing these concerns,” said Eva Craner, spokesperson for the Twin Falls School District.
Following nationwide TikTok threats to schools and social media trends urging students to damage school property, school resources are spread thin.
“The more that we can help educate parents so that they can be aware and they can be helping their students be responsible and proactive on social media, the better our community is going to be,” said Lickey.
The Twin Falls education night will be January 11 at the O’Leary Middle School auditorium. Jerome High School will host their education night January 12. Both will start at 7 p.m.
