Center Grove and Franklin school districts have joined national litigation against major social media companies.
Wagstaff & Cartmell, a Kansas City-based law firm, is part of a nationwide consortium of law firms alleging in the lawsuit that social media companies like Meta, TikTok, Snapchat and YouTube are knowingly “endangering children and teens through excessive and problematic social media use.”
“This is a full-blown public health crisis, and schools are left to deal with the mental, emotional and financial fallout,” said Michael Cutler, partner of the law firm. “The burden on educators is growing while tech companies profit from designs that deliberately exploit the minds of kids.”
According to a 2023 study on the impact of social media on mental health of adolescents and young adults, higher levels of social media usage were connected with worse mental health outcomes and the use of social was also connected with body image problems and disordered eating.
In response, more than 1,800 public school systems, including over 92 in Indiana, have joined a national lawsuit against major social media companies. Franklin Community School Corporation previously joined, and Center Grove Community School Corporation’s school board voted to join the lawsuit at last week’s meeting.
Unlike a class action, each school district is an individual plaintiff, and the legal team is working on a contingency basis. If no recovery is made, there is no cost or reimbursement required from participating schools. The first anticipated school district trial is slated for June of 2026.
“Educators are telling us that they’re seeing scheduled fights organized through apps, bullying amplified by digital platforms, and students who can’t disconnect long enough to focus in class,” said Austin Bane, another partner at the law firm. “Districts are hiring more counselors, expanding crisis response teams, and struggling to meet the growing mental and behavioral health needs of their students. This litigation is a way to hold tech companies accountable for their role in the crisis.”
Wagstaff & Cartmell was part of the same legal team that successfully sued JUUL Labs on behalf of U.S. school districts, which resulted in settlements totaling hundreds of millions of dollars.
A resident at the Center Grove school board meeting questioned why Attorney General Todd Rokita is not involved and said if anyone should be sued, it should be the parents.
Superintendent Bill Long said there’s a growing body of research, along with national data from school districts, that indicates social media platforms contribute to levels of anxiety, depression, bullying and disruptive behaviors among youth and have a substantial strain on the corporations’ counseling, mental health, behavioral and administrative resources.
“Schools have a responsibility to protect students’ well-being and provide a safe learning environment,” he said. “If social media has contributed to widespread harm, then pursuing legal action aligns with out mission to advocate for students and support families while safeguarding learning.”
The district’s participation in the lawsuit, along with the over 1,800 districts in the U.S., provides an opportunity to potentially recover expenses incurred by the corporation and to encourage stronger accountability and safer design practices from social media companies, Long said.
To join, schools need to fill out a 35-page fact sheet citing instances of social media problems in their schools, counseling, mental health and discipline data for their school district. The information provided would not identify any personal information of individuals or children.
Other Johnson County schools are either considering their options or were not aware of the national lawsuit.
“We are actively reviewing the situation and weighing our options as it continues to develop,” said Matt Prusiecki, Indian Creek superintendent.
Greenwood Superintendent Terry Terhune and Edinburgh Superintendent Jim Halik said they are not aware of the litigation at this time.
Clark-Pleasant superintendent Tim Edsell said the district hasn’t been asked to join, but the district is focused on educating students on proper social media usage.
“At this time, we have not been specifically asked to join any national class action lawsuit about social media companies,” Edsell said. “Our primary focus is to continue to educate our students on appropriate, safe and effective ways to engage in social media so it can be used as a learning tool and not a distraction. We have a responsibility to prepare our students with 21st-century skills, careers and technological tools so that they can be successful in a global society.”
Indiana’s Student Safety Reporting law requires school corporations to report student bullying and arrest data for each school to the Indiana Department of Education by July of each year.
According to the Bullying Data reports for the 2024-25 school year, Clark-Pleasant, Edinburgh and Franklin schools did not have any reported incidents of written communication or electronic bullying. This does not include other incidents of bullying such as physical, verbal or social bullying, also reported to the state.
Center Grove Middle School Central reported seven instances of electronic bullying, along with Pleasant Grove Elementary with one incident.
Greenwood Community High School had one reported incident of cyberbullying, and Indian Creek Middle School had three reported incidents.
Any Indiana school districts interested in participating in the national lawsuit may contact Austin Brane at 816-701-1100 or abrane@wcllp.com or Scott Yonover at 312-560-5120 by March 1.
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