Community demands oversight from Great Valley schools after students lewdly impersonated teachers on TikTok

MALVERN, Pa. (KYW Newsradio) — Teachers and parents packed a school board meeting in Malvern on Monday demanding more oversight and education in social media use after it came to light that middle school students impersonated nearly two dozen of their teachers on TikTok.

A New York Times report earlier this month revealed students at Great Valley Middle School had created fake accounts for at least 22 teachers — some featuring lewd content.

Patrice Motz, a Spanish teacher at Great Valley, said a colleague alerted her about the accounts in late February.

“I had no idea what was going on until I got home and realized I had to make a fake account to go on and see what they were,” she said, “and they were really horrific.”

The account purported to be Motz and suggested that she enjoyed inappropriately touching children.

“They had pulled a family picture from the internet, and the only one I had available … was my children,” she said. Motz was one of the few teachers to go on the record with The New York Times, which exposed the months-long saga at the school.

“I hate this for our teachers,” said Great Valley community member Jeanette Harpold. “I feel like this has been downplayed. I know a lot of people feel like it’s been covered up.”

Teachers and parents demanded more policies and education around social media use for students, and they want to be a part of those changes.

Superintendent Daniel Goffredo said the district is reviewing such policies and working more social media literacy into the curriculum. There are also early discussions with lawmakers to fill some of the legal gaps of enforcement.

“As we move forward, we recognize both as a superintendent and as a board that it is critically important to look at ways to protect our staff and educate children and parents about the misuse of social media,” he said.

“Every one of us is a stakeholder in this,” added Nikki Salvatico, president of the Great Valley Education Association. “None of us are immune from this happening to us, so we have an opportunity here, and that’s why we’re here.”