The Hollidaysburg Area School District is asking for the public’s help in reporting Instagram and TikTok accounts using the district’s name and graphics to post derogatory and hurtful information about individual students.

“Some of it is really nasty stuff,” Superintendent Robert Gildea said.

The district became aware of the accounts over the past month after students reported them to the school’s administration, according to Hollidaysburg Area Senior High School Principal Maureen Letcher.

In a post on the school’s website, the district asked the community for help in ending the recent trend by reporting the accounts and blocking them on their childrens’ social media accounts. The post stated that the reports would remain anonymous.

“The companies will only take down the sites if they receive multiple reports,” the post read.

According to Letcher, the first accounts were “more funny than degrading” but meaner ones have popped up in the past two weeks, posting pictures and making fun of students.

The district has tried to figure out who is behind the accounts by questioning students who follow the accounts. However, the students maintain that they don’t know who is running the accounts, Letcher said.

It is otherwise impossible to tell who the accounts’ owner is as Instagram and TikTok only require a valid email address, which could be anything, to sign up, Letcher said.

Meanwhile, the district has put an anti-bullying statement regarding the accounts on the high school’s morning announcement and news show Tiger TV. Teachers have also addressed the issue in their classes.

According to Letcher, none of the accounts have yet been removed.

Mirror Staff Writer Rachel Foor is at 814-946-7458.