TIGARD, Ore. -- Racist, homophobic, and offensive images are being sent around Tigard High School, and they’re coming from students.
“There was a girl who put on one of those charcoal facemasks and she posted a picture of herself with it with a caption of the 'N' word,” said Tiara, a junior at Tigard High.
She is one of the many students who have seen the images sent using Snapchat, a popular mobile app.
“A lot of racial slurs, a lot of the swastika sign and nudity of students,” said Sus Karki, a senior.
Students say pretty much all of their friends can see the posts, thanks to a new feature on Snapchat. It now allows people to post pictures or videos to specific locations, like Tigard High School. When you post, your friends can see it and post too.
“That's how everyone’s been seeing all the bad things because everyone's so interconnected that everyone is seeing everything,” said Tiara.
“Truly some kids feel scared,” said Susan Stark Haydon, a Tigard-Tualatin School District Spokeswoman.
District and school officials found out about the images on Thursday. Since then, they've been trying to get to the bottom of what's happening.
“Yesterday afternoon they started interviewing kids and then today they're interviewing more students and their parents to try to track down everybody who was involved,” said Stark Haydon.
Some students said the hurtful posts need to stop.
“I'm not OK with that being in our Tigard High environment because I love my school very much,” said sophomore Evan Wagner.
“Grow up, Like real world, you shouldn’t be doing things like that. You should really get some common sense,” Karki said.
“These jokes aren't OK,” said Tiara. “They're really affecting and hurting some people."
District officials said as many as 30 kids could be involved. The students behind the posts could face expulsion or suspension.
Stark Haydon said the school district hopes this is a teachable moment, where they can really drive home that social media posts can be really hurtful.
In an e-mail sent to parents on Thursday, school officials asked parents to keep tabs on what their kids are posting on social media and talk to their kids about social media.
The school is working with the students who are scared and feel singled out.