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February 14, 2016
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WHAT DO YOU KNOW ABOUT THE AFTER SCHOOL APP? The After School app has singled out students, angered parents and raised suicide concerns in south-central Idaho. Take our quiz below to see what you know about the app, then turn to our special report on page B1.
1
Students use the After School app to:
2
The icon for the After School app looks like:
A. Help with homework.
A. A calculator.
B. Keep track of social engagements.
B. A calendar.
C. Post anonymous comments about classmates and teachers.
C. A tiger in sunglasses. D. Hidden, or any of the above.
D. Track school assignments.
Can parents download the app to monitor their child’s activity on a schoolspecific message board?
Are vulgar, sexual and bullying comments and photos filtered out?
4
3
A. Yes, no vulgar content appears on the message boards.
A. Yes, parents are allowed. B. No, a user must be verified as a student to gain access to the app’s message boards.
B. The app removes reported posts, but many vulgar words are replaced by symbols and remain on the board.
C.Yes, but parents have limited privileges.
C. Nude photos of teens have been posted.
D. Parents can download the app with their child’s permission.
D. Bullying behavior has been reported on the message boards at several south-central Idaho schools.
5
What should parents do if their child is bullied on the app?
ANSWER KEY: 1 – C. Students use the app to post anonymous comments to a message board tied to their school. 2 – D. The After School app icon has a tiger head wearing sunglasses, but it can be hidden entirely from view or look like a common object such as a calculator or calendar. 3 – B. Users must be verified students to log on to a message board, but some local parents have viewed the board by using their child’s app. 4 – B, C and D. The app claims to remove reported posts, but symbols are often used to replace vulgar or obscene words, and the posts remain on the board. Nude photos have appeared on the message boards, and bullying behavior has been reported to school officials and to the app’s makers. 5 – D. If your child has been bullied, you should report the post to the app makers and to the child’s school. Talk to the student and seek counseling if necessary.
A. Report the bullying to the app’s makers. B. Report the incident to the child’s school. C. Talk with the child and seek counseling if the incident is severe. D. All of the above.
ASSOCIATED PRESS FILE PHOTO
U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia speaks to Presbyterian Christian High School students on April 7, 2004, in Hattiesburg, Miss. Scalia died overnight at age 79.
Justice Scalia Dead at 79 MARK SHERMAN Associated Press
WASHINGTON • Antonin Scalia, the influential conservative and most provocative member of the Supreme Court, has died. He was 79. The U.S. Marshals Service in Washington confirmed Scalia’s death at a private residence in the Big Bend area of West Texas. Spokeswoman Donna Sellers said Scalia had retired the previous evening and was found dead Saturday morning after he did not appear for breakfast. His death sets up a likely ideological showdown during a presidential election year as President Barack Obama weighs nominating a successor to the justice in the remainder of his White House term. Scalia was part of a 5-4 conservative majority — with one of the five, Anthony Kennedy, sometimes voting with liberals on the court. Scalia used his keen intellect and missionary zeal in an unyielding attempt to move the court farther to the right after his 1986 selection by President Ronald Reagan. He also advocated tirelessly in favor of originalism, the method of constitutional interpretation that looks to the meaning of words and concepts as they were understood by the Founding Fathers. Scalia’s impact on the court was muted by his seeming disregard for moderating his views to help build consensus, although he was held in deep affection by his ideological opposites Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Elena Kagan. Scalia and Ginsburg shared a love of opera. He persuaded Kagan to join him on hunting trips. His 2008 opinion for the court in favor of gun rights drew heavily on the history of the Second Amendment and was his crowning moment on the bench. He could be a strong supporter of privacy in cases involving police searches and defendants’ rights. Indeed, Scalia often said he should be the “poster child” for the criminal defense bar.
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• Sunday, February 14, 2016 Enterprise Editor Virginia Hutchins [ 208-735-3242 • vhutchins@magicvalley.com ] • B1
THE BIG STORY
DREW NASH, TIMES-NEWS PHOTO ILLUSTRATION
Students look at their phones during a basketball game Jan. 21 at Burley High School. Along with parents and educators, some students have spoken out against the After School app as a dangerous platform for bullying.
EXPLOITED AFTER SCHOOL APP DISPLAYS NUDE STUDENT PHOTOS, SEX TALK, BULLYING LAURIE WELCH lwelch@magicvalley.com
URLEY • An app that gives teens a platB form to post anonymous messages tied to their schools has singled out students, angered parents and raised suicide concerns in south-central Idaho. Teens have always looked for ways to express their thoughts and feelings. But widespread use of the After School app has left a vicious mark of bullying in its wake — along with a lot of sex talk that includes the names of students and educators. Jayleen Lovell, a senior at Canyon Ridge High School in Twin Falls, felt the sting of bullying comments Inside posted on the app. 5 Other “One post about me Apps said all Jayleen has going Parents for her is her looks,” Lovell said. Another Should post said the teen Know “needs to stop opening About: her legs.” 1. YikYak Lovell shook off the comments and didn’t 2. Ask.fm let them bother her, she said. “But other 3. Whisper kids may not be able to 4. Snapchat do that.” Posts on After School 5. Tinder message boards tied See Details, to other south-central B3 Idaho schools have included nude photos of students, derogatory comments about appearance, name calling and comments about students’ body parts. One post said a particular male student “was big downstairs” and showed a weatherman standing next to a map with wind patterns in the shape of male genitalia. A male student posted about how he secretly filmed his sister and worried that he was guilty of child pornography. Others mention how the poster would like to perform specific sex acts on a classmate; the sexual comments sometimes refer to teachers and principals, too. Many vulgar posts do not include actual photos of students but use provocative stock images of scantily clad males and females. Lovell said one girl at Canyon Ridge became so upset by After School posts about her that “she was crying and puking.” To compound her pain, “some boys at
DREW NASH, TIMES-NEWS PHOTO ILLUSTRATION
The After School app has sections reserved for students 17 and older which allow profanity and talk about sex and drugs. But in sections designed for younger students, banned words are substituted with easily recognized symbols. In this illustration, the symbols have been blurred. lunch handed her a rope and told her to go hang herself.” Other apps target teen and preteen users, too, but After School is a particularly dangerous one.
‘A Reason to Be Naughty’
What’s different about this app? Created by Cory Levy and Michael
Callahan, the After School app is made for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch and is available to download free on iTunes — but not for parents or any other adult. Parents who try to download the app will find it requires student verification in the form of a student identification card or driver’s license. The app logs in the student through his or
her Facebook account, which makes deleting it more difficult. Students 17 and older can enter sections reserved for upperclassmen which allow profanity and talk about sex and drugs, but those kinds of comments are not limited to the restricted section. Please see APP, B2
B2 • Sunday, February 14, 2016
DREW NASH, TIMES-NEWS
Cheerleaders look over their phones during a basketball game Jan. 21 at Burley High School. ‘It’s hard for teens to filter through all the things that they are targeted by,’ said Heidi Cranney, a Cassia County parent and former high school teacher.
App Continued from B1
In one case, a topless photo of a female student was posted on the app’s Burley High School message board. Students regularly make slightly suggestive to pornographic posts in the section designed for younger students; the difference is that some banned words are substituted with easily recognized symbols. “The majority of it is bullying,” said Braeden Hill, a senior at Minico High School in Rupert. Hill said he deleted the app after realizing most of the posts were inappropriate. Contacted by the TimesNews, the company failed to respond to a list of questions and instead emailed a blurb describing its app. The company’s website says it takes measures to monitor each post and will remove posts if they are reported and block users who misuse the app. The website also says the company has responded to complaints by school districts and parents across the county by making modifications like the 17+ age restriction for sex and drug talk and by adding a button where users can report offensive content. The company also has added a help line for atrisk teens. But its claims have done little to quell the daily bullying — and the sexually explicit posts that many parents would find shocking. “When kids hear the word anonymous they think it’s a reason to be naughty,” said Rachel Jensen, school counselor at Raft River High School in Malta. “And they think it can’t be traced.” Although some students have downloaded the app at Raft River High, Jensen said it is not widely used right now. Jacob Hall, a senior at Minico High, said most of the students at his school using the app now are younger. “A lot of the upperclassmen realized it was not good,” he said. “It’s a stupid and pointless way to bash on other people.” Hill and Hall are both members of Minico High’s Source of Strength program, which trained about 60 students to reach out to others in a positive way. The program was available through a grant by Idaho Lives, which targets suicide prevention.
LAURIE WELCH, TIMES-NEWS
The After School app denies an adult access, saying it could not verify through Facebook that the person was a student. Then the app asked to access the person’s camera.
“We’ve had kids extremely upset about the derogatory things that are being said. In our experience, nothing positive has happened with this app. ... Stuff like this can push kids over the edge.” John Kontos, Minico High School counselor Students at junior high schools and even middle schools in south-central Idaho have school message boards available through the app. Minico High counselor John Kontos’ advice to students: “Don’t download it or even look at it.” “ We ’ v e h a d k i d s extremely upset about the derogatory things that are being said,” Kontos said. “In our experience, nothing positive has happened with this app.” Cyberbullying can be especially devastating to a student who may be at risk
for suicide, he said. “Stuff like this can push kids over the edge.”
‘We Can’t Control It’ Do you know what your kids are looking at? Few parents seem to pay any attention to what their children have on their phones, Kontos said. “If they were, all this sexting wouldn’t be happening.” Sexting is sending sexually explicit messages or nude photos over a cellphone. In the past couple of months, the Twin Falls
School District has had complaints about bullying on the After School app at all three of its high schools, district spokeswoman Eva Craner said. T h e d i s t r i c t p o l i cy requires students to use the DREW NASH, TIMES-NEWS district’s network during school hours, which has a Student Braeden Hill, 18, talks about the After filter that blocks the app. School app Jan. 25 at Minico High School. ‘The School districts in Cassia majority of it is bullying,’ Hill says. and Minidoka counties use filters to block the app, too. Reporter Laurie Welch is based “The loophole is if they in the Times-News’ Burley bureau. don’t use the school network and switch to data, we can’t She has covered education and control it,” Craner said. other issues in the community for Please see APP, B4
19 years.
Sunday, February 14, 2016 • B3
5 Other Apps Parents Should Watch LAURIE WELCH lwelch@magicvalley.com
URLEY • Many experts recomB mend that parents keep up with social media trends in order to monitor their children’s activity. But parents who think they’re savvy because they are aware of
1
YikYak
2
Ask.fm
3
Whisper
4
Snapchat
5
Tinder
Facebook Messenger and Snapchat may be surprised at how many apps vie for their children’s attention. There are apps like After School, designed for gossip. Texting apps. Apps designed to help users meet people in the same geographical location.
Parents must look especially closely because there are even apps such as Poof that will disguise other app icons, and apps can be hidden from view with phone settings. While most of these apps were designed for users 17 and older, younger children can download
most of them by clicking on a box stating they are 17. Apps come into and out of favor — sometimes rapidly — so constant research and monitoring are necessary for parents to stay up with trends. Parents can also purchase customized parental-control systems,
such as Net Nanny. The program features a family bundle meant to protect up to 15 devices from pornography, online predators and cyberbullying. Others to check out are McAfee Safe Eyes and Web Watcher. A few apps parents should watch:
This social media platform doesn’t gather any personal information other than location. It allows users to post about regional happenings or like posts to move them up or down the viewing wall. The user posts comments that are accessible to the nearest 500 people, within a one- to five-mile radius.
This anonymous app lets people pose questions to friends and strangers and has been linked to cyberbullying and suicides. It has little moderating and regulation of content and is considered dangerous.
The free app encourages users to share secrets and post pictures anonymously.
This one has been around awhile. Rated 13+, it allows users to send video and picture messages that disappear after 10 seconds. Because they disappear, teens feel safer about sharing sexually explicit content, but the phone does store the data and allows the receiver to take screenshots that can be saved.
This app is rated 17+ but has users as young as 13. It’s known as an app used for hooking up because it pulls matches from within a certain mile radius. It shows pictures of people who are nearby. The user marks each photo with a green heart or red X. If two users mark each other’s photos with the heart, it reveals their locations.
The Tinder app is rated 17+ but has users as young as 13.
LAURIE WELCH, TIMES-NEWS
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B4 • Sunday, February 14, 2016
“A lot of the upperclassmen realized it was not good. It’s a stupid and pointless way to bash on other people.” Jacob Hall, Minico High School senior
PHOTOS BY DREW NASH, TIMES-NEWS
Student Jacob Hall, 18, talks about the After School app Jan. 25 at Minico High School in Rupert. ‘It’s a stupid and pointless way to bash on other people,’ he says.
App Continued from B2
Craner said the district contacted the After School staff to complain and was told the company would “keep a close eye on the district and add extra moderators to monitor posts.” Cyberbullying is a widespread phenomenon that the district would like to control, Craner said. “It’s easy to say something mean when it’s anonymous like that.” Cassia County School District has also received complaints. “It’s horrifying,” spokeswoman Debbie Critchfield said. She said the Cassia district also complained to the app’s makers, but “they are in denial.” The app was designed for students to make fun comments like “I have a crush on Billy,” Critchfield said, but that’s not how it’s being used. She said some After School activity goes beyond inappropriate; it crosses the line into illegal. Cassia County Sheriff Jay Heward has logged into the After School app at Burley High and concluded about half of the student body was using it. If posts include nudity of a minor, even if the minor in the photo posts it, Heward said, it is a crime. Those posts can be traced. Teens often think they are sending nude photos to a boyfriend or girlfriend but don’t realize they may be forwarded to others or posted online. They don’t understand that once nude photos are put on social medial they are on the Internet — and out there forever. “They can never get them back,” Heward said. In the case of the After School app, schools can do only so much because it is downloaded onto the student’s private property. The buck stops with parents, and they must monitor what their children are putting on their phones. “Love your kids, check their phones,” he said.
‘Stay on Top of Things as Parents’ Heidi Cranney, a Cassia County parent and a former high school teacher, is concerned about the app’s widespread use. “It’s hard for teens to filter through all the things that they are targeted by,” said Cranney,
A screenshot of the After School app on an iPhone.
Burley cheerleaders look over their phones during a basketball game Jan. 21 at Burley High School. Some students have spoken out against the After School app as a dangerous platform for bullying. who downloaded the app, tried to log in and managed to reach a point that she could see posts briefly before they faded away. “I was really taken aback and upset by some of the posts.” Even parents who regularly monitor their child’s cellphone may miss the app, which can be hidden under shell apps that look like objects such as calculators. There are also restriction settings on iPhones that allow the user to hide apps from a parent’s view.
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Critchfield said the topless student photo was discovered by a parent who opened the app on a child’s phone and recognized the girl. Parents are morally and legally responsible for their children until they are 18, Critchfield said. “Look at what’s on your child’s phone. You are paying for it, and they are minors.” Often a bullied child may be embarrassed and reluctant to talk with a parent.
Critchfield’s advice to parents: If you find the app, encourage the user to delete it. If a student had negative experiences with it, he or she should talk with a trusted adult or counselor. It’s not a bad rule to have all electronic devices on the countertops at night to make sure students are not staying up all night on them, Jensen said. “Get those devices out of the kids’ rooms at night so they can sleep.” The After School app is
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advertised to teens as a fun way to talk about good things. But there could be sinister long-term consequences. The app asks to scan students’ driver’s license bar codes in order to admit them to the over-17 message board. “By doing that you give the app all of your information on your license, including how old you are, where you live, your height,” Lovell said. “That is unusual and inappropriate. Who is keeping track of all these students’ personal information?” Parents have to educate their teens about the risks that come with putting personal information on social media and letting apps have access to it. It may affect their lives down the road, Cranney said. No electronic messages are truly anonymous. “When kids get older and they apply for jobs, anything that they are putting on social media may be viewed by a potential employer,” she said. “A lot of employers pay good money to access that kind of information. It will follow you.” Parents should also put parental control filters on their children’s phones. “I get pretty angry that we as parents have to fight this battle,” Cranney said. “But we need to share what we know and pass it along to others so they can stay on top of things as parents.”