After School phone app a problem in C.O. schools

“A chick got told to kill herself. It upset her a lot,” Crook County High junior Ian Godat said Friday about a recent post on an app becoming more popular with students for its ability to share messages anonymously.

According to school staff, police and students, the app After School is becoming a troubling trend, featuring not only funny and lighthearted posts, but also sexual, mean or — as what was perceived Tuesday — even threatening content.

“It was a very generic message put out there, but some of our students took it in a threatening way,” said Principal Michelle Jonas. “So we took measures of heightened awareness just to make sure we were being safe.”

The message, posted anonymously, read: “I wouldn’t go to school tomorrow” (followed by three smiley faces).

Police and school leaders quickly found there was no danger after a student at another school came forward and admitted making the post. Still, it was enough to prompt added police presence at the school — and to pique School Resource Officer Jeff Coffman’s curiosity.

“I went to the Google Store and downloaded it, then I typed in my Facebook information, and it accepted me,” Coffman said.

What he saw was an eyeful.

“Rude comments,” Coffman said. “Rude, sexual comments.”

The app uses a smartphone’s GPS technology to generate a list of nearby schools. Students can choose their school and read and post anonymous messages. There are filters allowing the user to select content that is related to sex, drugs and profanity.

NewsChannel 21 downloaded the app and found lots of flirting and jokes, but also hundreds of sexual and crude messages. Nearly every high school in Central Oregon and many middle schools are listed on the app.

“It went viral — anyone you ask around here has it,” said junior Bryan Dominguez Cruz. “People just comment about other people, just to hurt them. You can definitely tell they want to hurt other people.”

Dominguez Cruz said he decided to get rid of the app after he found mean comments about himself.

“You don’t want to be reading bad things about yourself, so I deleted it,” he said.

NewsChannel 21 asked Godat if there was content on his feed he wouldn’t feel comfortable reading aloud.

“Yeah, there’s a lot of profanity on here about girls and such,” Godat said.

Trying to monitor and manage the content is just as troubling, said Coffman, adding that other social media — like Snapchat — also cause problems.

“Unfortunately, kids send naked pictures of themselves,” Coffman said.

Because it’s so prolific, school officials and police said they rely on students and parents to bring social media concerns to their attention.

“As a school we are not currently monitoring (the app), but we could definitely talk about it,” Jonas said. “It’s finding that balance of trust with your students and families, so they have that open communication — if something happens, they’re coming to us.”

Jonas said the school intervenes when online posts or cyberbullying bring anxiety to students or disrupt learning.

Becoming aware of these incidents is a problem in itself.

“Unfortunately, we don’t learn about them until it’s too late — it’s already happened,” Coffman said. “They keep this to themselves, in their own culture.”

As for the student who apparently was told to kill herself, Godat said he suspects she never told the school or police, although he said she posted about it on Facebook.

“She didn’t do anything to herself, which is really fortunate,” Godat said. “It’s a really sad thing that somebody would say that about someone else.”

And keeping up on the technology is tough.

“The kids seem to always be one step ahead of the adults,” Coffman said.

Jonas added, “It seems like when you become aware of one site, the kids have moved on to something else.”

According to data on the app, there are also hundreds of student users at Bend high schools.

Mountain View High School Resource Officer Ashely Volz wrote in an email:

“Yes, we have a few MVHS students using After School, but we haven’t received any complaints regarding it.”

Volz added that Bend-La Pine Schools’ network blocks access, preventing After School from being downloaded onto school-issued devices. She also said the district posted about the app on the school’s Facebook page to help make parents aware of it.

Coffman said parent involvement is key.

“Check your kids’ phone regularly, and check the apps that are on there, and then see if you can get in and check the content,” Coffman said.

The app also lets users and schools report complaints. Coffman said the company was cooperative after police contacted representatives following the perceived threat.

He also warns nothing is truly anonymous, although tracking down a user can take time.

“Their name might not come up when they’re looking at the post on the screen, but we can figure out who made the post and take it to the proper conclusion,” Coffman said.