With the rise in popularity of TikTok and other video sharing platforms has come a string of trends and challenges that are causing disruptions in schools across the country. One of them, coined 'Devious Licks,' encourages students to vandalize or damage school property, and has been cropping up in districts nationwide.

On a local level, the problematic social media challenges are ramping up post-pandemic, according to one district's superintendent. 

“Social media has been a big topic of discussion, certainly among superintendents and school officials for quite a while,” says Canastota Superintendent Shawn Bissetta. "It's like everything's ramped up in recent years and particularly this year."

Educators are aware of the challenges students are facing in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, such as the increased anxiety spurred on by isolation and remote learning, and want to do everything they can to keep their students on the right track.

“We want to empower students to know that they do have a choice. They are powerful, who can have a greater sensitivity towards one another ... then we're going to avoid some of those conflicts, because it's so easy to fall victim to something that's more remote,” said Bissetta.

"Just because you're somewhere off the school grounds, if that conduct has an impact on the school, then the school still has the ability to use some type of disciplinary consequences."

Educators are working for solutions that include a partnership to help support families that are struggling with social media issues.

“It's important for parents to be able to connect the dots with their partners [and] people like us in school. We want to put the pieces together, and if something doesn't seem right, we want them to communicate with us [and] we want them to reach out,” said Bissetta.

Superintendent Bissetta and the Canastota School District are doing more than listening, they're acting, hiring motivational speaker and educator Otis Jennings as their educational coordinator to help keep families and students focused.

“It is critical to teach young people the importance of leadership and responsibility, and setting the right examples now. Look, we're all fallible as human beings. But with that being said, if we can practice just like a route on the field, and you see the guys in the background practicing plays in football and doing the things that are going to make them successful, we need to practice the smart goal setting and decision making,” said Jennings.

Jennings says the more families and educators that practice goal setting and situational awareness about their child's life -- in the classrooms, out of the classrooms and online -- the more success their students will have.

“They’re seeing these messages come across Instagram, or Facebook or social media [and] they have a way of counteracting that in a very positive dynamic way. The decisions they make can change their life in a flash. That's why we try to give them the tools to make dynamic decisions out of our day-to-day and minute to minute," says Jennings.