By Eleanor Love, News and Sports Editor; Izzie Kim, Editor-in-Chief
McClatchy students, families, and officials experienced distress after an anonymous Instagram page by the handle of “@ckm_confessions_” shared crude posts about students and staff. Among these “confessions” were a number of sexual assault allegations.
Principal Andrea Egan was first made aware of the confessions page on Friday, December 3, after a student brought it to her attention. While she described the page as initially worrying, it did not have many followers at the time.
But her concern quickly grew. “I started seeing students’ names being talked about over and over. To call out somebody for how they look — it just was lots of really hurtful things. There were things mentioned about staff, and so over the weekend I got alarmed,” Egan said.
Egan began messaging the account directly asking the owner to take it down, and they shared some back-and-forth exchanges. The owner of the account expressed that they thought the account was mostly harmless and funny, but they also told Egan that she should be concerned about some of the assault allegations that were being brought up.
“It was all harmful and none of it should have been posted publicly,” she said.
The page remained active and shortly after, went private. On December 6, Egan called Sacramento City Unified School District’s safety office asking for advice. The district reached out to law enforcement to see if there was anything that could be done, but since there was no imminent threat, they couldn’t act.
Later, Egan directly called the Sacramento Police Department, who took a report. The police took the account seriously and took information about the account as well as some anecdotal information from Egan. They followed up with what they could.
Egan and authorities have determined who was behind the page, which is now deactivated.
She explained that she was unable to share too much about the student or their punishment, but did share that “we’ve met with the student and family and we are pursuing a consequence.”
To clarify, the student behind the confessions page and the student behind the school shooting threat that occured on Friday, December 10 are not the same person.
After a number of sexual assault allegations appeared on the confessions page, McKenna Silliman, a sophomore, created a separately-posted sexual assault reporting form for victims. She consented to being named, and was unaffiliated with the confessions page.
“This is where I think there’s been a lot of misunderstanding,” said Egan.
On the morning of December 7, Egan saw a post on the confessions account telling students to submit sexual assault reports to Silliman’s form. Egan called Silliman into her office under the assumption that she was working with the confessions page.
“My fear was that if anything sensitive got reported by a student, that could end up on this confession page. I was very very concerned that if anyone shared something harmful, it could get publicly put out there before we had any knowledge of it or ability to help the student or the victim,” Egan said. Egan asked Silliman to take the form down, and she complied. This greatly frustrated many students.
“There was this perception that I was not interested in those worries, not taking them seriously, which of course I would absolutely never do. Anything that gets brought to us is one-hundred percent thoroughly explored,” Egan explained.
Egan later met with Silliman and her mom, where she better understood Silliman’s intentions. Since then, Egan has met with numerous students, a student group, and has talked to parents who are interested in helping further conversations about sexual assault and safe spaces. Egan believes that there will be a student forum where she plans on presenting information about Title IX (how sexual assault reporting is handled) in the district. She also hopes to hear from students on how McClatchy can improve reporting procedures, student support, and mental health follow-ups.
“It’s very clear to me that students want to be heard, and I need to provide that space,” Egan said.
McClatchy currently has partnerships with a number of mental health and sexual assault resources, like WEAVE, which provides sexual assault recovery services to Sacramentans. The challenge is operationalizing resources so students receive their services.
When asked if McClatchy has a sexual assault problem, Egan said “I honestly think students perceive there is, and so I need to take that seriously. I don’t know what’s going on behind all closed doors, but if that’s the feeling that students have, then I need to hear that.”
Egan explained that the past week has revealed to her the hardship that the pandemic has caused students. Emerging from nearly two years of social isolation has been difficult for kids.
“I think that students are really struggling emotionally. They’re walking around our building carrying stress. I knew that, educators all know that, but I think it’s really been laid bare this week how much support students need. Now it’s really my serious charge to dig in and figure out how we can put mental health first to focus on students feeling safe and comfortable with themselves in their school environment,” she said.
Egan sent out a Roar announcement Sunday evening further outlining what she hopes to see change at school. “Please know these issues are at the forefront of my mind, and I plan to provide additional training for teachers and staff to better meet these needs and incorporate specialized programming for students we can identify who may be most at risk.”
In the Roar she also included a slide deck on Title IX reporting from SCUSD, which can be accessed here. For students who may be struggling with sexual assault, harassment, or mental health, inform a trusted adult, and access mental health services here.
The Prospector reported on last week’s student-led meeting about sexual assault. Read it here.