Students were clicking through their Snapchat stories yesterday when a familiar face popped up. Student Resource Officer, SRO, Ben Smith posted on the 2025 Community Story.
Yes, this was really Officer Smith and yes, he can see your stories.
In mid-April, users were introduced to the concept of Community Stories. These stories allow users to join communities if they fit the criteria for that community, much like Facebook Groups. At Wadsworth High School, the Community Stories are broken down by class level; 2024, 2025, 2026, and 2027. To join the Community Story, users had to submit their school email to prove they were a part of the community.
Once Community Stories made its way to Wadsworth High, it began to get out of hand. What first started as students posting the bell schedule and what is for lunch quickly turned into a platform for bullying and harassment.
On December 7, WHS’s School Resource Officer, SRO, Officer Ben Smith took to the Community Stories to give students a warning about the dangers of their posts.
“We already know that so much bullying and harassment exist on social media. I’ve done several investigations here just as an SRO pertaining to social media, harassment, threats being made,” Smith said. “ We know it exists and we also had several people come forward and talk about some of the posts that had been on social media, especially the [Community Stories].”
Students have been very opinionated talking about Smith’s post.
“I think that he’s [Officer Smith] right and he went about it the right way,” said Tessa Brindel, Freshman. “ I think he just handled it with humor which was the better way to go about it, I think he made the right decision.”
Smith and the rest of the WHS administration want to remind students and users that what they post has an effect on others and that everyone can see it.
“I just wanted people to know that we’re adults, we know how to use social media, I grew up with it,” Smith said. “I’m just as fluent in social media as you guys are, I’m there and I can see it [the Community Story posts].”
Although Community Stories are becoming a platform for bullying and harassment, WHS and administration cannot stop these posts from occurring; they can only advise students against making harmful posts.
