CLARKSVILLE, TN (CLARKSVILLE NOW) – TikTok challenges encouraging students to steal or destroy property have led to over $20,000 worth of damage to Clarksville-Montgomery County schools.

The trends, which change each month according to the list of challenges circulating online, have led to a urinal being ripped off a wall, teachers’ personal items being destroyed and thousands of dollars in repairs.

Flooding, stealing and destroying

Over the last few weeks, more than 100 incidences of vandalism and theft have been reported in the district’s 14 middle and high schools, according to Anthony Johnson, chief communications officer for CMCSS.

Johnson said some of the worst problems are in bathrooms. Hundreds of soap dispensers, paper towel dispensers and toilet paper holders have been ripped off walls.

Bathrooms have been flooded after toilet paper and paper towels were shoved down toilets, Johnson said. Things have been glued to toilet seats, and food and other items have been smeared on toilets and stalls.

Plumbing fixtures have also been ripped off the walls. On one occasion, a urinal was ripped off the wall, causing over $6,000 in just cleanup and dehumidification fees, Johnson said.

Johnson said some teachers’ personal belongings have been stolen and destroyed, with an incident at one school in which over $200 worth of a teacher’s personal belongings were destroyed.

“I will just echo what Sheriff (John) Fuson stated in our communication to families last evening – ‘These thoughtless actions come with serious consequences.’ Dozens of students have received consequences, and families are paying fines and restitution,” Johnson said.

September’s challenge was to vandalize school bathrooms while October’s challenge is to slap a teacher.

Bathroom access is limited

One response from the schools is to schedule bathroom breaks.

Melissa Nortum, a CMCSS parent, has two children in school. One goes to Rossview Middle and the other is at West Creek High.

She told Clarksville Now that both schools’ response has gone beyond just scheduled bathroom breaks.

“One of the bathrooms only has two toilets now available because somebody ripped them off the wall, so there are less bathrooms available for them,” Nortum said.

And because the soap dispensers have been stolen, Nortum said there’s no soap in some of the bathrooms. She bought travel-sized hand soaps for her children so they’d still be able to wash their hands while at school.

“At the end of the day, they can’t use the bathrooms on the way out of school because they’ve locked the doors,” Nortum continued, adding that one of her children told her they had to wait two periods before using the restroom even though they needed to go.

“They’re not allowed to just raise their hand and say, ‘Hey, can I use the restroom?’ and get a pass and go,” Nortum said.

Johnson said several schools have had to respond with changes to restroom access.

“An example of a modification at one school is, unless it is an emergency, a limited number of restroom/hall passes are issued,” Johnson said.

“The passes are issued and tracked using a digital hall pass application. The application can track how many students are out from a particular hallway and how long they have been out of the classroom. This helps teachers keep track of who, when, and where to increase safety and security,” he said.