More than 200 people show up at Great Valley school board, pushing back on district’s TikTok response

Parents and teachers in the Great Valley School District pushed back Monday on the district’s response to 22 fake TikTok accounts impersonating middle school teachers, questioning administrators’ explanation for why they were limited in punishing the students behind the hoax.

While district officials said the students’ online conduct was protected by the First Amendment, some parents — and the head of the district’s teachers’ union — told the school board they disagreed.

“We do not believe actions like these are protected free speech,” the union president, Nikki Salvatico, said at a board meeting at Great Valley High School on Monday that drew more than 200 people, most of them teachers wearing blue union shirts.

The Chester County school district has been in the national spotlight following coverage that began earlier this month after a report in the New York Times, which described the impersonation campaign as “the first known group TikTok attack of its kind by middle schoolers on their teachers in the United States.” The accounts — which school leaders said surfaced in late February — contained sexual depictions of teachers, among other offensive content.

According to the Times, two girls involved posted an “apology” video last month that said the accounts were blown out of proportion. “Learn to joke,” one said, in a video the Times said was since taken down.

In a message to the community after the Times story, Superintendent Daniel Goffredo expressed his “disappointment and sadness,” and pledged to strengthen the district’s work teaching students digital citizenship. The Times reported that several students were briefly suspended.

Goffredo — who has not commented on what discipline students faced — told reporters last week that district officials wish they could do more. “It’s a frustrating position to be in,” he said. He said accounts have “continued to be created throughout the summer months.”

Some parents on Monday accused the district of a lack of transparency, saying they should have known about the incident sooner. “Most people are only now learning how serious the allegations were,” said Cristina Hartley, who said she learned about the accounts from her children, rather than administrators. “It took becoming infamous, in local, national and international media, for people to now understand what’s going on.”

Others objected to the district’s assertion that it couldn’t take more punitive action toward the students behind the accounts.

“Quite frankly, the district’s response to this atrocious behavior is embarrassing,” said parent Christi Largent. Noting a U.S. Supreme Court decision that said schools could regulate students’ out-of-school speech if it causes substantial disruption, Largent said the trauma teachers experienced “is, in fact, disruptive to the classroom.”

“This disgrace should serve as a wake-up call to the administration,” Largent said, calling on the district to use “all available resources to ensure this does not happen again” — and suggesting it do more to support teachers, such as covering copay costs for mental health appointments.

Goffredo said at the start of the meeting that district officials were “truly sorry that our middle school staff members have been subjected to such insensitive and hurtful conduct.”

After discovering the accounts, the district contacted law enforcement and engaged legal counsel, to “guide our legal rights and discipline students for conduct that took place after school hours and off the school district property,” Goffredo said. The district says TikTok is blocked from student use by its filters.

But a number of photos that appeared on the fake accounts were taken at school, said Neil Young, a social studies teacher who was among those impersonated and who watched Monday’s meeting. In an interview Tuesday, Young — a Republican running for Congress who is on sabbatical from the district — noted that cell phones are banned in class, and said it was “more likely” students used district-issued iPads to take pictures of teachers.

“If there was a place where the district fell short, holding the kids really accountable for their actions is probably what most teachers were frustrated with,” said Young, who said teachers took it upon themselves to preserve screenshots and other evidence.

Goffredo said the district had “informed families and spoken directly to students,” and sponsored presentations by the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Office on appropriate social media use.

He said the district will be reviewing its policies on student conduct and use of technology, and working to engage the community around “dangers of social media, and ways to monitor students online conduct.”

Salvatico, who was the lone teacher to address the board, said her members want to be involved in crafting new policy, and to be included in decisions about the use of technology.

She called on the district to opt in to a new state program providing grants to districts to purchase bags that keep cell phones locked from students during the school day, and look at “how all devices, not just phones, are used throughout the day.”

Others indicated the district’s social media troubles went beyond attacks on teachers. During the spring, Amanda Thomas’ daughter learned of a TikTok account “dedicated to telling her to kill herself,” Thomas told the board. She said she reported the account — made by a bully of her daughter’s — to the police, but it was deleted; both the police and school said there was nothing they could do, Thomas said.

“I am imploring the school to revisit its bullying and cyberbullying policies,” Thomas said. “With this attention, you can no longer ignore bullies.”

Thomas Richards, a school board member, told the teachers in the room that he imagined the incident had prompted some to question their commitment to teaching. “I acknowledge your pain and uncertainty,” he said, pledging that the district would work to restore trust.

As for the students, “they screwed up, big time. What they did was reprehensible,” Richards said. “But I hope we can treat them with some grace. Let’s not forget they’re still kids.”

In an interview after the meeting, teachers who had been impersonated by the fake accounts said they hoped the attention to the district would bring changes. But they said the problem wasn’t just students’ use of technology, but an apparent lack of empathy.

Although a cell phone ban would be an “easy fix,” students have other devices all day long, said Bettina Scibilia, an English language arts teacher. “I think we actually have to teach some very explicit empathy lessons and make sure that our middle school students are aware of our shared humanity.”

To date, Scibilia said, “we’ve received no apologies from students, or parents. And I think that would have been worth quite a million to me.”