CARLETON, Mich. – Some students are destroying and stealing school property in a new social media challenge called “Devious Licks.”
Several school districts across Metro Detroit are warning parents after local schools experienced vandalism.
TikTok has banned devious licks, making the hashtag unsearchable as the company works to remove videos.
“I got wind of this one right around the start of school, just started hearing whispers of it,” said Airport Community Schools superintendent John Krimmel. “And then we started seeing some things here in the first week of school that indicated some kids that were definitely participating.”
The trend has people damage and steal school property.
“They’re taking anything -- whether it be a soap dispenser or other item in the bathroom -- and then they take it home,” Krimmel said. “They video themselves with the item and post it on TikTok.”
Krimmel said students who participate and are caught are not only going to face school discipline, but potential legal consequences as well.
“That’s a crime. You can’t steal things from a public building and so there are charges that are attached to this,” Krimmel said. “It’s a shame that the attention on social media is more important in some cases than having pride in the school that you go to and all the good things we’re trying to provide to our student.”
Krimmel said several students in the Airport Community Schools district have been caught and are facing consequences, but he wants more parents to be aware of the trend.
More: Downriver news