At least one bully tweeter at SSHS has tweeted an apology. Stating that they had brought shame on their family, school, and self, the individual asked for forgiveness and stated they hope to remain friends with those mentioned in the bullying texts.
The apology came after actions taken yesterday at Sulphur Springs High School where Superintendent Mike Lamb says some breakthroughs in the bullying twitter situation occurred . Lamb said some “mean stuff was being said” and that school authorities were concerned as to how they could end the situation. He said that school actions were being taken to discipline those involved. He called the discipline fairly severe.
Sulphur Springs school district officers working with Twitter (the company) were able to make inroads into who held the local bullying accounts. Lamb noted that for two days a lot of behind the scenes work has been conducted using the partnership of company,school officials and campus police. At first couple of sites were shut down but came back up with a single letter change to the account name. Copycat accounts had also started up. Lamb said for some time it seemed that some of the accounts could be in the hands of those who were not students in the local district. He said one or two may have started the bullying but several others picked up on it. He called the difficulty of locating those involved like looking for a needle in a haystack.
However, as of Thursday, several had been identified and shut down according to Lamb. He is concerned that others, even those outside the district, would take up the bullying process. The school has adopted a wait and see attitude even though they have found the students and/or individuals locally who were involved.
Lamb praised the work of Principal Josh Williams and Assistant Principal Steve Carter along with campus police for the success of uncovering the tweeters. The superintendent said that as the tweeters were being discovered, he and Principal Williams were attending a conference at Region 8 where a law firm was addressing the pitfalls and issues surrounding schools, students and social media. He said Williams was making notes and getting texts regarding the work in the local district at the same time during the meeting. Lamb said Williams was delighted to know that the steps being taken by the local district were inline with requirements that surrounded this type of investigation and discipline. (see our story: “SSHS Seeks Bully Tweeter” for more background on this story)
