CHARLOTTE, NC. — The “Devious licks” challenge on TikTok started gaining traction earlier this month. Students post videos of them stealing stuff from schools, like soap dispensers and fire extinguishers, and vandalizing bathrooms. There’s a new challenge each month, like smacking teachers and showing private parts in school hallways.
Amanda Thompson-Rice is the president of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Association of Educators and a CMS parent.
“This trend is really affecting the workload of our custodians as well as distracting our students from what’s really important, which is teaching and learning,” says Thompson-Rice.
A CMS spokesperson tells WCCB the district is aware of the challenge, saying they have seen some incidents of vandalism and that “our operations staff does not characterize the incidents as widespread.”
“Within one school, I can tell you the boy’s bathroom was destroyed, they tore off the hand soap dispensers off the walls, they smeared red Kool-Aid. So it’s like, why are we doing these things?”
Former CMS teacher and CMS parent Melissa Easley say she’s heard it happening too.
“My kids themselves just told me the other day that they saw kids trying to mess with the bathrooms and that one of the boy’s bathrooms is closed because someone did something bad,” says Easley.