The Sampson County Schools Board of Education was presented with the option to join social media litigation and decided on special nursing care for a student during a regular work session Tuesday morning.
Meta, which owns the social media platforms Facebook and Instagram, recently reached a settlement that will pay North Carolina a minimum of $451 million and up to $645 million. Joining the school district litigation costs nothing to the district, with court costs covered through the agreement.
“I think it’s a good thing,” board member Eleanor Bradshaw remarked about the lawsuit and settlement, “and so I would like to make a motion to approve the retainer agreement.”
Board member Michael Elmore seconded the motion, and the board unanimously voted to approve the retainer agreement for the litigation.
Prior to the vote, the school board’s attorney, Rebecca Williams, explained the reasoning behind entering into the social media litigation.By joining it, Williams said the board takes the position that “Sampson County Schools’ students have been harmed or indicated of harm in some way by social media.”
Williams explained to the board that as part of Meta’s settlement in North Carolina, “Meta has agreed to do a lot of things to kind of break the addictive nature of social media. … They have agreed, at least, that some changes will be made.”
She mentioned Meta has agreed to reduce notifications during school hours and shut off social media feeds for teenagers overnight.
King interjected, “We have to go back to 2017 and find how many students were referred for mental health, how many of those referrals were for mental health went to an actual clinician … so there’s a lot of data that we’ve gotta go back in and find to complete this information to submit and see if our data says that we’re eligible to join the lawsuit.”
King noted that there are also eligibility requirements the school district has to meet to join the litigation, including referrals and whether the district can show that students were harmed by social media.
“I’m not sure, pre-COVID, what type of data we’re going to have,” King told the board. “I mean, mental health was talked about before COVID, but not like we talk about it now.”
King mentioned that he had asked other superintendents what data they’ve submitted to help compare.
“Just so you know,” Williams advised, “from our firm — with any district that’s wanted to join — none of them have been turned away so that they don’t qualify. … I’m sure you have the materials to qualify.”
Special nursing
assistance requested
The school board also approved a nursing contract with IntelliChoice Home Care.
King reminded the board of a state law from a couple of years ago that allows parents in the Exception Childrens program to choose their student’s own nursing provider for school.
“Although we provide nursing services, parents can choose their own if they so choose, and we have to fund that,” King explained.
He stated that Sampson County Schools has had its first case of a parent requesting a private nursing service. No additional money will have to be spent on the new nursing contract; funds needed will instead be diverted from the 2026-27 nursing contract already in place for Sampson County Schools.
“The purpose of why this family wants this nurse is because it is the same nurse who works with the student at home,” King added, “so they want some continuity of that service.”
Board member James Jones made a motion to approve the contract, which was seconded by Bradshaw. The motion passed unanimously.