Ephrata aims to prevent youth violence with local education

“You can’t combat something unless you know about it. The more information that you can gather and understand, the better off you’ll be in making sure you’ve got a plan to be able to handle it if it comes up.”  — Sarah Morford, director of communications, Ephrata School District

EPHRATA — Ephrata School District is inviting parents and guardians to a community town hall next week aimed at addressing fast‑changing risks facing local youth – from online exploitation to gang involvement – and giving adults practical tools to recognize warning signs.

The Youth Violence Prevention Town Hall is scheduled for Wednesday, May 6, from 6 to 7:30 p.m. at the Ephrata High School Performing Arts Center. The event is free, open to adults only and will be livestreamed by the Grant County Sheriff’s Office Facebook page. Childcare will be available on-site.

A broader focus than last year

District Communications Director Sarah Morford said this year’s event expands on last spring’s gang awareness meeting by addressing a wider range of safety concerns.

“This town hall is focused on preventing youth violence and specifically sextortion, online safety and gang awareness,” Morford said. “There’s so much that’s happening in youth culture, and it changes so quickly, and a lot of it’s happening outside of the sight of adults.”

The district is partnering with the Grant County Sheriff’s Office and the North Central Educational Service District. Detective Katrina Ball, who specializes in online safety and sextortion cases, will lead part of the presentation. Additional law enforcement and crisis response personnel will also participate.

“We deal with a lot of the sextortion crimes at Grant County Sheriff’s Office,” GCSO Public Information Officer Kyle Foreman said. “Children will be approached by someone online with either legitimate photos of the minor or artificially generated photos of the minor demanding something from them or they will release the images.”

Why the district organized the event

Morford said the district received a $30,000 Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction grant to support community education around youth safety.

She said principals have also recently completed training on online risks and urged the district to help families understand what they’re seeing in schools.

“We think ongoing dialogue and awareness is important,” she said. “Our principals feel that it’s very important and relevant to what they’re seeing in schools to make sure families can help us about these issues.”

Foreman expressed a similar sentiment.

“If parents don’t know what their children are doing online, there is no way they can protect them from the potential harms that are online,” Foreman said. “We hope to educate them to make sure they can keep their kids safe.”

What adults will learn

The presentation will cover behaviors and warning signs that often go unnoticed, indicators of gang involvement, current social media trends, how online conflict spills into real-life situations, ways youth bypass parental controls and how to report concerns to the district or law enforcement.

Foreman said minors are smart and have discovered sneaky ways to hide online behaviors from their parents.

Morford said the goal is to equip adults with information they may not realize they need.

“You can’t combat something unless you know about it,” she said. “The more information that you can gather and understand, the better off you’ll be in making sure you’ve got a plan to be able to handle it if it comes up.”

Adults only and why

Because the presentation includes sensitive and potentially disturbing content, the district is asking that only adults attend.

“This is tailored at an adult audience, not a child audience,” Morford said. “We will have day care available, while their parents participate in this event.”

Encouraging community participation

Morford said district officials hope adults will attend even if they believe their children aren’t at risk.

“Information is power, and knowing what kids are facing is important,” she said. “It takes all of us being cognizant of the issues in front of kids to be able to support them.”

The event will conclude with a Q&A session featuring presenters and school administrators.

“We hope that parents and guardians can walk away a little bit more ready to tackle the digital landscape after this,” Foreman said. “And if issues do arise, they will know who will be able to help them combat the issues.”

Preventing Youth Violence

18+ only

6-7 p.m., May 6

Ephrata High School Performing Arts Center

718 Frey Rd. NW