Social media use is a double-edged sword, at least in my experience.

Recently a message was sent to our sister paper, the Kent Reporter, via Facebook regarding accusations of bullying at a middle school in Covington.

A family of a student there, who I am not identifying because she is a minor, is waging a public campaign via social media against the middle school and the Kent School District regarding bullying that the girl’s aunt and mother say the teen experiences at school.

I am, in fact, not identifying anyone involved because if the situation is as bad as this girl’s family paints it, then it seems unfair to exacerbate the situation further by naming them or even the school.

This is a difficult situation. At some point in the future, if the family wishes to do so, I would like to talk to the teen and hear straight from her what she has experienced.

As for the Kent School District, spokesman Chris Loftis wrote in an email interview there’s not much he can say due to student privacy laws.

“We cannot discuss the specifics of any student’s personal situation nor the specifics of complaints, discipline issues, correction plans, etc.,” Loftis wrote. “We are aware of the family member’s concerns and school leadership has been working to resolve the issues involved.”

That, however, is not the picture painted by the mother and the aunt on Facebook.

I have to admit I am, as a parent, wholly uncomfortable with the idea of putting this kind of information out there via social media but it seems to me that this mom is protecting her daughter the best way she knows how.

On the social networking site, the mother claims her daughter has not received help from the school counselor or administration team related to the bullying, which has apparently risen to severe taunting and name-calling by several classmates and even teammates as well as intimidation and gossip.

At one point, her mother said in a Facebook message May 29, the teen punched a student who was taunting her which led to her suspension.

I was told via email by a school administrator that there is a larger context to this situation but it couldn’t be discussed. I was encouraged to contact Loftis, who also received the message and replied.

Loftis emphasized in his email that student safety is a priority and bullying is taken seriously in the Kent School District.

“Our middle school professionals in instruction, administration, counseling and safety are particularly adept at prevention and response,” Loftis wrote. “The school team has been working on the issues of bullying and have seen some real success.  In fact they saw a 40 percent reduction in the number of kids reporting bullying this year (from a recent climate survey).”

Based on everything I’ve read on Facebook thus far, the family of the student would disagree with all of that.

At this point, the effort has been to get the message out in the media, and in a Facebook message I received from the mother the afternoon of May 29, she also has been in touch with the American Civil Liberties Union.

At the time of this writing — the afternoon of May 29 — I don’t know what to make of this situation.

What I can say is bullying is unequivocally wrong.

The student’s mother said during our Facebook chat this bullying began in fourth grade and persisted well into middle school.

“I just don’t want this to happen to any other student and want them to enforce their zero tolerance policy for bullying and quit brushing these kids off,” the mother wrote in the Facebook message.

Whatever is going on at this school — and I haven’t been in this particular building in a few years, so, I only can go on the information provided by both parties — needs to be addressed. I don’t know how, specifically due to the privacy laws Loftis cited, that will happen.

“Facebook and other social media bring us all great benefits in multiplying messaging and great challenges in honoring privacy,” Loftis wrote. “Information and opinion can be shared quickly, but given legal restraints, school districts are not able to as quickly correct inaccurate information or respond to opinions we feel paint inaccurate portraits of our approach and disposition on issues. In this case, we obviously have a family member who feels the efforts of our school leaders have not met her needs, but we are confident that the allegations have been and are being investigated and that an appropriate response plan is in place. We appreciate the family member sharing concerns though and encourage all of our parents/family members to bring their thoughts to the school and district leaders. But we also ask our community to recognize that while Facebook is a great forum for public discussion, the principal’s office is still the best place to work through the specific challenges students might face in their schools.”

The student’s mother, however, said in our chat that she felt that staff at the school were not responding to her concerns and nothing would be resolved if the approach taken thus far continued. She has enrolled her daughter in a different school, an online program outside of the school district, for the fall.

So, we have a situation which has gone viral via social media, but, one where I can glean only so much of the school’s side of the story. Raising awareness of bullying via sites such as Facebook or Twitter — recall the ‘It Gets Better’ campaign, for example — can be effective, it does make it hard for me as a journalist to tell the full story.

Just because the story came to me via social media doesn’t mean it’s something I won’t pay attention to or isn’t worth telling. There’s much more to this than what I’ve touched on here or what the family has put out there publicly, based on what this student’s mom told me.

I hope to tell more of the teen’s side of things during the summer. For now, the rest is on Facebook.