An app called Yik Yak was causing problems at Steamboat Springs High School. The app was banned four years ago across the country but now it is back. People can make anonymous posts with everyone within five miles, which results in cyberbullying and hate speech. Steamboat Principal Rick Elertson made an announcement to the student body that the Yik Yak app needed to be removed because of “vicious characterizations, targeted primarily towards female students and staff at the school.”
Elertson says the Yik Yak app also encourages vandalism and that other schools on the Western Slope are dealing with it as well.
Here is the message sent to parents and students on Sept. 10, 2021.
Hello Team,
Today’s Principal’s Page is coming separate from the Blast because it is of the greatest importance that you read ONLY this message.
It was brought to my attention yesterday that an app called YIK YAK, which was founded in 2013 and has been banned in most of the United States for the last four years, has resurfaced. The app is a social media platform that allows users to anonymously post messages, and anyone with the app on their phone located within 5 square miles of the person that posted a message will receive the posts. To put it simply, anyone with the YIK YAK app on their phone living in, or around Steamboat Springs is receiving messages posted by anonymous users.
I want to go back to the banning of YIK YAK, because that’s the critical reason for my message. The app was banned because of the destructive force that anonymity allows when users want to post horrifying messages about anything and/or anyone they want, and nobody can trace the posts back to the person posting it. Students began reporting incidents, and sharing the messages yesterday afternoon. I cannot adequately describe to you the vicious characterizations, targeted primarily towards female students and staff at our school, that are being posted on the YIK YAK app. The body shaming, the vulgarity, the rumor spreading of a sexual nature, are some of the most vulgar that I have heard. Any parent, ANY PARENT, would be mortified after reading the posts that were shared with me.
Last night, I received an email from a female student who was begging me for help because of the vicious characterizations her friends were receiving via YIK YAK. For me to say that it exploded in the 24 hours after first hearing about it is an understatement. It became out of control in every sense of those words.
Several weeks ago, our team planned today for class meetings, which we indeed conducted. I was able to speak directly to all of the grade levels in the gym over the lunch hours and Anchor periods. However, in an effort to stem the tide of YIK YAK this morning, I started the morning announcements with a critical message to our students and asked everyone to delete the app from their phones and report any abuse that they were seeing. I explained that brutal messages were being posted that targeted students and staff in our building, and asked all of them to have the courage to stand up for each other and be the best versions of themselves. I am very proud to report that most of our students had conversations with teachers after I wrapped up the announcements, and most of them made the decision to delete the app. Unfortunately, not everyone was ready to abandon, and the nastiness continued throughout the day.
I am asking every parent/guardian of every student in our school to have conversations with your children this weekend about this app. If your child has been victimized by this and needs support from us, I need to know that immediately. In addition, we are working behind the scenes with IT to find any other remedies available to us.
Lastly, some of you may have heard that we’re “taking away cell phones” starting on Monday. That is categorically false. We told the students in the class meetings that we are rigorously enforcing the cell phone policy starting on Monday, which states among other things, that cell phones can be used before/after school, during passing periods, and at their lunch. When in classrooms with teachers, cell phones are to be put away and students are to be engaged in learning. We explained that we would follow the handbook procedures if students were unable to meet that expectation. The procedures are:
First Offense: Warning
Second: Put the phone on the teacher’s desk until the end of the period.
Third: Phone is turned into the office by the teacher and collected by the student at the end of the day.
Fourth: Phone turned into the office and parent/guardian has to make arrangements to come and get it.
Fifth and beyond equals repeated refusal and defiance that may lead to in/out of school suspension.
Nobody wants a student’s cell phone. We will only come into possession of a student’s cell phone when they refuse to participate in their education in the classroom.
Thank you for reading this to the end. I’m sorry to be long-winded, and equally sorry to have to share what has been happening at our high school over the past 24 or so hours. We can and will be better than this. You have my word on that.
Sincerely,
Rick, Principal