♦ Staff Editorial ♦

When a student is pressing submit hidden behind a computer screen, it’s pretty hard for a dean to tell the difference.

Whether a tip is sent because a student thinks it’s funny or because their intention is to help, investigation is handled the same way.

The idea of sending a false tip may be comical. But it isn’t funny to the struggling student who will have to go another two days unnoticed because deans are pursuing false leads.

Each false tip wastes the time of deans and administrators who could otherwise be helping students in desperate need. In fact, deans need that time to address the concerns of the 87 students hospitalized for anxiety and depression last school year.  For the past two years, Tip203 has proven to be one way in which administration is able to assist struggling students with these issues.

However, with the influx of false tips flooding the site, students have turned this helpful tool in to a practical joke.

This isn’t a problem with administration or the management of the site. The problem lies within the student body. If we want to revive the site’s original intent, students have the power to do so.

It’s pretty simple. Use Tip203 for its original intention.

This means reporting actual bullying or legitimate concerns affecting our peers.

Though “The North Star” staff and NNHS administrators still believe the benefits of the site outweighs the harm of the negative tips, we’re quickly approaching a tipping point.

According to a recent interview with Principal Kevin Pobst, more than 50% of the tips received by the site right now are estimated to be illegitimate. Though the district met to brainstorm ideas on how to combat this troubling trend, their decisions will render useless without student cooperation.

While a legal disclaimer on the site is unlikely to deter inappropriate use, it’s the best administrators can do. They will not compromise student anonymity in order to discipline false tippers. If they did, it would destroy the entire point of Tip203. Anonymity is crucial to the site; it protects the scared, the misunderstood, and those with nowhere else to turn. In fact, the legal disclaimer may intimidate those with legitimate concerns and could potentially prevent them from reporting them.

Tip203 runs on mutual trust between students and administrators. Administrators still trust us– and there isn’t a plan B. Tip203 lives or dies by student’s actions, and our choices on how to use the site should reflect this understanding. Though administrators remain hopeful and patient, they too will eventually reach a breaking point.

However, there is good reason for this hope. A large majority of high school students typically demonstrate the maturity necessary to handle an anonymous tip line.

Junior high students, on the other hand, may not quite be there. The district has begun discussing implementation of Tip203 at the junior high levels, but if a high school student can’t handle it, how can we possibly expect an 11-year-old to do so?

Student behavior will ultimately decide whether the site continues to be an effective tool. We decide whether or not we want to set a good example for underclassmen and junior high students. We’re going to decide if we want to continue to have a place in which North’s most vulnerable can be helped and heard.