Social Media Aids in Saving the Life of a Student in Shallowater
By: Meredith Hillgartner
Updated: January 25, 2013
"With social media they will go to websites and see what is going on with kids," Warren said.
That is exactly what happened Thursday night after a counselor at Shallowater high school found a student threatening suicide on his Facebook page.
"The incident that happened in the last few days out here," Warren said. "Another student reported that to one of our teachers and a teacher then made contact with administrators."
The school then contacted police, who checked on the student before he could hurt himself.
"One of our main jobs is to make sure kids are safe," Warren said. "Whether that is at school or whether that is at home."
Shallowater Superintendent Phil Warren said the days of passing notes are gone and students are now turning to social media to express their feelings.
"On the spur of the moment when something comes into a young persons mind and they think about something that needs to be said," Warren said. "Putting it on the web makes it pretty permanent."
Warren said his educators do not make a habit of checking students social media pages but they do follow up on issues concerning student safety.
"That's an incident where we had concern," Warren said. "I think things said in that discussion about taking a life and anytime that happens we have to be concerned that if they are talking about it then they are capable of following through with it."
