West Fargo School District Holds Forum to Discuss Social Media Safety with Parents

Officers from the West Fargo Police Department and students also spoke

WEST FARGO, N.D. — After a teacher in her district pleaded guilty to having inappropriate relationships with students, Beth Slette decided it was time to teach the parents about the dangers kids face on their phones.

“We have these students for six–and–half hours a day. I need to ensure that the children are safe in our schools, and I need to be aware of what’s happening, and we’re going to work really hard to make sure that event never happens again,” said Slette.

Slette brought together officers from the West Fargo Police Department, students from her school district and experts on child psychology and social media to talk about what kids face on social media each day.

“We really want to help parents know that there are resources to help them, and our teachers and our principals, we all need to be educated because I’ve learned a lot in the last few months about what students have access to that I did not know,” said Slette, who started her tenure as the district’s superintendent in July.

Police Chief Heith Janke says the conversation will bring more awareness to these hidden dangers before it’s too late.

“We want to be proactive, and in order for us to be proactive, we need parents and other siblings and what not monitoring what their loved ones are doing online,” said Chief Janke.

With plenty of parents eager to talk with the panel, Slette says that it’s a collaborative effort to keep their kids out of harm’s way.

“Although we do a lot of work to inform our students and to teach them about the dangers, when they’re put in that situation, some of them are unable to put the brakes on, and that’s where we need to wrap–around as a community, as a school district, as parents to keep all of our children safe,” said Slette.

The forum was the first in a series of talks the district plans to have that addresses issues kids face.

The next discussion will take place in November and talk about substance abuse.