Havelock North Intermediate principal Nigel Messervy in a statement advised parents and whānau of children experiencing negative behaviour online or in person to contact the police and seek their advice. Photo / Paul Taylor
Havelock North Intermediate principal Nigel Messervy in a statement advised parents and whānau of children experiencing negative behaviour online or in person to contact the police and seek their advice. Photo / Paul Taylor
The principal of Havelock North Intermediate is urging parents to go to police if children are the targets of social media bullying posts “fraudulently” using the school’s logo.
Parents of students at the Hawke’s Bay school posted on social media this week to highlight the issue of persistent bullying on TikTok and Instagram.
Police released a statement on Thursday confirming it had been made aware that a Hawke’s Bay school had a number of social media accounts fraudulently using the school logo and name inappropriately.
Accounts using the school logo as a profile picture were involved in reposting videos, pictures and names of students from the school, adding captions that were sometimes cruel and malicious upon anonymous request.
“His friends only use him for his hot mum,” read one caption on a student’s photo posted by an account seen by Hawke’s Bay Today.
“Little Miss all her friends secretly hate her,” another post read.
“[---] talks shit about people, but then when you want to step her out she hides in the office,” a third read.
Some of the accounts using the school logo are set to private. One, seen by Hawke’s Bay Today, posted multiple videos of students fighting while wearing the school uniform on school grounds.
In response to Hawke’s Bay Today’s queries, principal Nigel Messervy advised parents and whānau of children experiencing threatening, sexualised or intimidating behaviours online or in person to contact police and seek their advice.
“The school holiday periods are the hardest for schools and educators given the long amount of time that young people have access to devices and peer group opportunities to meet and engage online,” Messervy said.
He said it was not always easy to identify students who open anonymous accounts on social media and it was common to see videos shared hundreds of times within a short space of time.
“We often work with groups of students identified in the sharing aspect of these videos, to help us remove or message online to have those responsible for their publication, remove them.”
The school allows only Chromebooks for in-class learning, which have internet safety programs installed and the capability for all online activities to be monitored by teachers.
He said there was “about a handful” of serious allegations of online bullying at the school each term and “another dozen or so” reports of minor incidents that are dealt with quickly.
Havelock North Intermediate principal Nigel Messervy said it was not always easy to identify students who open anonymous accounts on social media. Photo / Paul Taylor
Eastern police said on Thursday that social media accounts were making incorrect and defamatory comments and posting offensive videos about former and current staff and students at the school.
“Police will look into this incident where and when required, however, the school is in the process of investigating this matter,” a spokesperson said.
Sean Lyons, Netsafe’s chief online safety officer, said he could not comment on current reports.
However, he said the impact cyberbullying has on all kinds of people was enormous, and the speed at which actions like reporting and seeking help were taken was critical to mitigating harm.
“This is potentially very harmful stuff, so it is good if people reach out for help,” Lyons said.
Carol Bevis, principal of Napier’s Bledisloe School, said she could not comment on current specific examples from other schools but commenting generally said social media and gaming platforms were an issue in most schools.
“Cyberbullying is something that happens, not regularly in our context, but certainly we have had incidents over the past few years, in the sense of mean texts, social media platforms and messages over gaming platforms,” Bevis said.
She said parents should understand that gaming platforms that invite people to interact were also dangerous.
* Consumer Protection NZ, along with Netsafe, also provides helpful advice about keeping safe online. netsafe.org.nz
James Pocock joined Hawke’s Bay Today in 2021 and writes breaking news and features, with a focus on environment, local government and post-cyclone issues in the region. He has a keen interest in finding the bigger picture in research and making it more accessible to audiences. He lives in Napier. james.pocock@nzme.co.nz
