FORT WAYNE, Ind. (ADAMS) – The latest TikTok trend has school leaders in one Fort Wayne-area school district upset.
SACS Superintendent Park Ginder sent a letter home to parents this week explaining the damage that the Devious Licks videos are doing.
The videos show students in schools across the country clogging toilets, breaking mirrors, and pouring soap all over school bathroom floors. Ginder says not only does vandalism break their school’s rules, but students who break things could be charged criminally.
The following letter was sent to parents:
Southwest Allen County Schools (SACS) works to keep parents informed of social issues impacting our students.
You may have seen or heard about an ongoing, national social media trend on TikTok called Devious Licks promoting vandalism and theft. According to clips chronicled on this platform, video shows students from across the country stealing school furnishings or committing acts of vandalism such as emptying soap dispensers on the floors, smearing soap on walls, breaking mirrors, or clogging toilets.
Like many districts across the nation, SACS has been negatively impacted by this social media craze.
While the district has increased staff monitoring, we are asking for your assistance to help curb this ongoing issue. Please take a moment to talk with your student and remind them these actions will not be tolerated at any grade level. Any intentional damage and theft of school property is not only a violation of our schools’ policies, it may lead to criminal charges and the appropriate consequences will be given.
Any student who may have information or witnesses inappropriate behavior is encouraged to reach out to a building administrator or use Quick Tip, our anonymous reporting system, available on all SACS school websites.
At SACS we hope to support and empower families in raising children who are safe and thoughtful in an increasingly digital world. Talk to your children about internet and online safety and monitor your child’s online interactions. Foster an atmosphere of openness and transparency about online activity and communicate with your kids to find out what they are viewing on the internet.
Thank you for your support in helping keep SACS a clean and safe environment for everyone,
Park D. Ginder, Ph.D., Superintendent
Southwest Allen County Schools
