A series of insulting social media posts that refers to R.E. Mountain school and singled out one student in particular have drawn a warning from the Langley School District.
In a message posted to the anonymous online account, the district asked the person responsible to “kindly delete this account immediately or remove the use of the school name.”
“The District understands your right to have a social media account, but misuse of the school name is infringement,” the message said.
“Not following through with this request could lead to other action.”
It didn’t specify what that action might be.
It went on to state that the “account is not affiliated with the school nor does it represent any of the values of the school and District.”
In response to a Langley Advance Times query, the Langley School district confirmed the message, but declined to comment further.
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Most of the messages at issue appeared to be reposted from American sources that, among other things, support the #bluelivesmatter pro-police hashtag meme as well as the Confederate flag and Donald Trump, often using foul or insulting language.
A student at the school, who asked to remain anonymous, said the postings were common knowledge among students but weren’t taken seriously until the poster decided to single out one student in particular.
“I thought it was silly until they used [the student’s] name,” the student told the Langley Advance Times.
“A lot of people want it taken down.”
The identity of the poster isn’t known, but they are thought to be attending R.E. Mountain.
“They’re old enough to know better,” the student commented.
Since the district warning, there were no new posts to that account, but none were taken down, either as of Wednesday, Nov. 18.
Offensive online commentary aimed at students is not uncommon, according to the provincial government’s Erase Bullying BC web page, which reports a survey of Grade 4 to 11 student in Canada found that one in three have run into someone who “has said or done something mean or cruel to them online that made them feel upset.”
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In 2019, social media was used to broadcast the final moments of 14-year-old Carson Crimeni of Langley, who died of a suspected drug overdose.
The matter was investigated by police, but no charges have been laid yet.
As of Wednesday, Nov. 18, a change.org petition “Justice for Carson Crimeni,” that calls for those responsible to be charged, had collected more than 71,000 signatures so far.
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