‘Slap a Teacher’ TikTok challenge has school districts on alert

LANCASTER COUNTY, S.C. (WBTV/Gray News) – A school district in the Carolinas is warning parents about a new TikTok challenge presented to students.

The “Slap a Teacher” challenge is making the rounds and has many school districts on high alert.

The latest challenge encourages students to slap a teacher or staff member and run before being caught committing the assault.

According to WBTV, a student smacked a teacher in the back of the head Friday at an elementary school in South Carolina.

“Unfortunately, the challenge that has been put out for this month is to slap or hit a staff member from behind,” the Lancaster Schools district wrote in a letter to parents. “Sadly, we actually had an elementary student assault a teacher by striking her in the back of the head.”

The school district said any student who physically assaults a staff member will be held responsible both legally and by board policy.

“Assault on a staff member is an expellable offense which means the student is removed from the school for the rest of the year,” the letter to parents read.

The South Carolina school district says they have “punished multiple students” for engaging in these TikTok challenges.

In recent weeks, schools dealt with incidents of vandalism from the “devious lick” challenge where students were encouraged to break or steal stuff at school – often in the restroom.

“We share this information with parents so you can educate your kids on the issue and monitor their social media habits,” Lancaster Schools said. “We also hope parents will speak with their kids about the serious repercussions of making poor decisions and peer pressure.”