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The Alamance-Burlington Board of Education became the latest school board on Tuesday to join a nationwide movement to sue major social media companies over the effects their platforms have on children’s mental health.
The school board voted unanimously in favor of suing on Tuesday.
Acting Superintendent Kristy Davis said that school system staff see negative effects of social media every day, especially at the middle and high school levels.
“Students are frequently posting threats on platforms like Instagram and Snapchat or sharing threatening content from others. It’s a real problem that’s consuming valuable resources,” she said. “Our ... (school resource officers) and administrators spend an enormous amount of time tracking these down.”
For over a year, an increasing number of school districts have filed their own lawsuits or signed on to lawsuits filed by others. They blame social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat and YouTubethe companies for worsening youth mental health and behavioral disorders, including anxiety, depression, disordered eating and cyberbullying; making it more difficult to educate students; and forcing schools to take steps such as hiring additional mental health professionals, developing lesson plans about the effects of social media and providing additional training to teachers.
More than 60 school boards representing over 1 million students have already joined.
Greensboro-based attorney Janet Ward Black of Ward Black Law gave the ABSS school board a detailed presentation outlining how the social media platforms’ algorithms were designed to addict teen and adolescent users and lacked adequate safety measures such as age verification and parental controls.
The lawsuits seek to change how the companies operate to better safeguard children and teens, and they seek financial compensation for expenses school districts have incurred addressing student mental health needs.
ABSS will pay no out-of-pocket fees or expenses for participating in the case. The attorneys will be paid on a contingency fee basis, meaning they would be paid a share of any damages awarded in the lawsuit.
In other business, the school board discussed the school system’s $3.2 million budget shortfall but took no action on measures to close the gap between now and June.
Each board member was asked to identify three priorities for the district’s staff as they prepare the school system’s budget request for the coming fiscal year, which begins July 1. Top priorities included keeping the Alamance Virtual Academy, classified employees’ pay supplement, school health personnel, SROs, the coaches’ pay supplement, athletic trainers, the dual-language program, and assistant principals.
The school board is scheduled to consider a budget proposal for 2024-25 on March 25.
The board also approved a $3.7 million contract for roof replacement at Graham High School.
