S.C. school district warns after elementary student follows through with ‘Slap a Teacher’ TikTok challenge

LANCASTER COUNTY, S.C. (WBTV) - A South Carolina school district is warning parents about a new TikTok challenge presented to students.

It’s called the “Slap a Teacher” challenge and it happened Friday to an elementary school teacher in Lancaster County.

According to the district, an elementary school student struck a teacher in the back of the head.

“Unfortunately, the challenge that has been put out for this month is to slap or hit a staff member from behind,” the 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.”

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

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

“Any student who physically assaults a staff member will be held responsible both legally and by board policy,” Lancaster Schools said. “Assault on a staff member is an expellable offense which means the student is removed from the school for the rest of the year.”

Lancaster Schools says they have “punished multiple students” for engaging in these TikTok challenges.

“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.”

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