Kamloops school officials focus on social media use after student brawl video | iNFOnews | Thompson-Okanagan's News Source
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Kamloops school officials focus on social media use after student brawl video

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KAMLOOPS - After a fight amongst students near a Kamloops high school was captured on video and shared on social media, school district officials are asking parents to engage with their kids on how to use social media responsibly. 

Earlier this week, a note was sent home to parents of students from Valleyview Secondary School after a fight between several students took place off school property.

School District No. 73 assistant superintendent of secondary schools Bill Hamblett says the letter was sent home to parents after the school became aware that a video of the fight was being shared on social media.

"Once we learned that the altercation was recorded, a letter was sent to parents to encourage them to talk to their kids about social media," he says. "We didn't want the video posted because that can be troublesome to the individuals involved."

A social media post on Facebook suggests approximately 30 students were involved in the altercation that took place on Monday, Sept. 10.

Hamblett could not confirm the number of students involved in the incident but says some students were taken to the hospital as a precaution.

Moving forward, the superintendent says the board will be hosting a workshop at the end of the month to address how students use social media.

But it's not an easy task for the school board to address the issue alone, Hamblett says.

"We don't give them the phones, so we need to work with our parent community," he says. "We really need to work together with parents to connect with their children regarding social media, my best guess is that mom and dad are the ones paying for those phones and not the students."

The workshop Raising Digitally Responsible Youth will be aimed at parents and school-aged children.

"Sometimes youth will make decisions that either you or I wouldn't make so it's all about teaching and learning," he says. "Unfortunately these things happen, they are youth and they make mistakes."

Hamblett says the students involved in the fight have been spoken to about the incident.

"We can't have these types of incidents in our schools... the students directly involved have been reinforced of our expectations and the student code of conduct," he says. "The altercation is certainly being addressed and students are being reminded of those expectations." 


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