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Debateisragingoverwhatshould bedoneinthewakeofapolice investigation into a lurid teenage confessions Mner account that York Reg‘on District School Board wants shut down. @GTAConfession -â€" a "Witter feed that asks secondary school students from across the GTA to post anonymous confessions for the world to see -â€"â€" has attracted plenty of attention for months from students inYork Region. Since a story was posted on yorkregioncom Way night. the manager of the feed has been busy defending the account via tweets from parents and educators who insist it solicits explicit. degrading, inappropriate. crude and. in some cases. bullying tweets from high school students in York Region and across the GTA. Based on information in some of the tweets. it wouldn‘t be difficult to identify unnamed individuals. especially in smaller schools. said senior communi- cations manager at York Region Dis- trict School Board. He added he has spoken to the principals at the board’s 31 high schools. along with York Regional Police, about the feed. High school confessions Twitter account raises concerns II'I'i E999 .333“??? ad? A In’n â€". I*A , E MUSICAL INSTRUMENTSi‘ 9833 m M, m 905.209.1177 I m BY JEREMY GRIMALDI jgrimaldiermg. com Starting April 6th, Long 8: McQuade ’ 2 3 97 a 9,0 ‘ oponSundays '41: " :2 from12t05pm. One Newmarket woman. who works with abrisk youth. said the school board’s tactics are too awessive. adding it shows parents need to do a better job reinforc- ing their childlen's morals. educs. social boundaries and the value of “Some of it is filth, but some of it's not. It's not about being punitive or shutting down the site. because another one will just pop up." said Gillian Barker. 8 mother of three. “I dunkwehavetoteachourclfildxen about privacy, xespect and bound- aries We (parents) have to try hand- er to advocate for a social fabric." Raveena Sidhu, who gradu- ated from Woodbn‘dge College in lune. said Mae: and social media have quickly morphed from a way to interact with fu‘ends. meet new people and keep up with daily news into a bully pulpit. whele girls are shamed by males and females “Even if these tweets are anony~ mous. if you’re a student you know aboutthegirlthatdoesallthat(sex~ ual) stuff.” said the 19-yearâ€"old who is heavily engaged in social media “It's not hand to figure out who it is when you see a tweet and the school named beside it. Social media isthetetobullyand makflun ofpeople.thatsallitisthesedays it’s driving people to suicide. people think because they are behind a screen they can say anything" The Mner account. which has almost 16,000 followers. lists count~ less details about what appears to be rampant sexual activity and drug use from students at a number of the region's public and Catholic ’Although the tweets are anony- mous. each one includes either the nameofatownoraschool The schools listed include Coun- try Day School, a private school. Stoufl'ville District Secondary. Ste- phen Lewis Secondary. Richmond Green Secondary. Bill Crothers Sec- ondary. Huron Heights Secondary and Millikan Mills. among many Locations include Aurora. Markham. Vaughan. Richmond Hill. King. ANewmarket. Stouflville AlthoughanumberofG'Ifiam mostofmemtsamaboutschools inYorkRegion GET CONNECTED \EN’L‘WOUR unm- Email you! comments and/o: ammonsto “ jnusonayrmgtom PROPERTY SERVICES INC 905-591-1323 CALL TODAY TO BOOK YOUR SPRING CLEAN UP WITH FREE AERATION! A SééifiFOXTAIL Mmyofunetweetsmamw‘in bothmuueandhmunge.m$. 'lflMsexMfluallmybastfrimds Wmmm‘hm'fiom 8185 (Stephen lewis Secondary School). Others are. “We had sex with almost everyonemmygmdebut laskeddmalllokeepitaseuu sonooneknowsmey'wallslept withm‘uistunUyDaySdmool) and. “Auroraseemstoliketoplay thisgamecanettletkseehowmany dmgswecandoatnves without @GI‘Aconfession have been able todecipherwtw'sbeingtefened mmdxemetswmleomerswme that namm have appeamd in some One tweet leads: “I‘ve seen numeumsnamesbeingcafledout ondlispageitmightbetimtofind somedxingnewtodoumxpledve) coumdhnganumberofpeople Mmhavebemvictimimdbyd'le Hesaidmeboaldhasoomacted drenccessnrysteps’mswellaspfln- dpahwdnycouldbeawmofme monitor it and suppon anyvictimswhohnvebeenidemi- firemisevidencefdlowusof Moe said that while the force investigates claims ofthis nature. no law havebeenbtoken. “We are awaxe of this Written account and we have Iooked into it.” said Const. Andy Pattenden. “Mk obviously some material on them that could be offensive to some. but them’s lots of that on the lntemet. At this time. we have not received any complaints about criminal activity.” He added that of the two laws â€" online threats and harassment â€"- that could conceivably be broken. neither has been identified. The account administrator refused to speak by telephone to yorhegionmm. but did respond (0 queries via email. In an email. the account admin- istrator relayed concern about police involvement. adding there are other similar accounts out there for young people. including @col- legefesslons. which started in the United mtes and now has more than 3(1),!!!) followers worldwide. A "Witter spokesperson said the company does not comment on individual accounts for privacy and security reasons. adding infonna- tion about safety tips for teens. fam~ ilies and teachers is provided on the the “Witter support wetxaite.