The alleged threats to a female student — in a high school football group chat — were “horrific,” a school administrator said.
“Let’s hang her from a ligh[t] post and let the birds pick at her brain for days,” said one. “U think Cornell was bad just wait for us,” read another, a reference to the allegations of gang rape at Cornell University that have drawn national headlines since a lawsuit was filed against the Ivy League school last month.
Since the screenshots showing what appeared to be exchanges from varsity players at Timberline High School in Boise surfaced recently online, the players have disappeared from the halls, parents and other students say. Last Friday’s homecoming game was canceled.
Outraged students staged a walkoutthat spread to another school in solidarity. More than 14,000 people have signed a Change.org petition online demanding justice and accountability at the school.
The Boise Police Department and the school are conducting separate investigations — with the school district launching its official Title IX investigation and threat assessment this week, alongside the ongoing criminal inquiry.
After hearing a recounting of the incident Monday, the school district’s board of trustees said in a statement that the school system was supporting the victim to ensure her safety while those responsible were being “investigated and disciplined.” The school system has not disclosed how many of the football players have been disciplined, citing privacy concerns and the pending investigation.
The board hinted that the public should have patience.
“When something happens outside of the classroom, after hours, or in a private string of vulgar and violent text messages, the reaction can appear muted or slow, even though in reality, it is neither,” the board said in an “open letter” to the community.
“The process, although not as quickly or as ruthlessly as some on social media would like, is working,” the board wrote.
The incident has set off a prolonged debate about toxic masculinity and gender equity in the predominantly White, upper-middle-class school of 1,300 in the southeastern part of the city near the Boise River.
“This incident is not just about a single event but highlights a pattern of behavior that needs immediate attention and resolution,” Timberline student Ellie Hall wrote in her Change.org petition, at a time when ideas about the “manosphere” and toxic masculinity have become more popular online.
“There’s a dark cloud over the school that needs to be lifted,” said one parent, the mother of a former Timberline student who transferred because of the way the school handled an altercation with a classmate. She did not want to be identified due to the sensitivity of the matter.
Jennifer Graham, a parent of a Timberline student, said she had little faith that the school administration would fully address the incident, given how she perceived that they had handled complaints of bullying — by both sexes — in the past.
“It’s just going to fade away, and nothing will be done,” Graham said.
Dan Hollar, the public affairs administrator for the Boise School District, said that the school system prohibits bullying and harassment and that the reported threats toward the student are “serious, and we have treated them that way.”
“We understand why families are concerned, and we are concerned whenever a family feels a report of bullying was not adequately addressed,” he said.
The drama began on Oct. 2, when a student and her mother walked into the high school and shared a screenshot that was “incredibly horrific,” Shelley Bonds, the area director, told members of the Boise School District Board on Monday.
The conversation — part of a Snapchat group of football players called “Gameday Lunch” — had been sparked by a romantic entanglement between one of the football players and a female student that had gone sour, students and parents said in interviews.
“Drop her bitch ugly ass,” said one student, according to a screenshot of the exchanges obtained by The Washington Post.
“Let’s hang her from a ligh[t] post and let the birds pick at her brain for days,” said one football player.
“Dumb slut,” the first replied.
“Let’s make her life hell,” the football player responded. And separately: “She would definitely let us all f— her. U think Cornell was bad just wait for us.”
A flurry of staff and administration meetings followed. Principal Chad Wright met with staff, notified students in a video and assembled a crisis team.
Two days later, more than 100 Timberline students walked out of school in support of victims of sexual violence, waving posters that said “Hold them responsible” and “Rape is not a joke” and chanting “Keep school safe.”
The troubling exchanges roiled not only the immediate Timberline community, but high school students throughout the region.
“It was sickening. … It was absolutely disgusting to see people my age speaking so poorly about someone,” said Bethani Aldrich, 17, a student at Owyhee High School in Meridian, Idaho. She said it was not surprising, however, because groups of students her age often feel emboldened to speak freely to others in their closed circles, without fear of being “canceled.”
Haley Williams, a spokesman for the Boise Police Department, said in a statement that the investigation was ongoing and they would be evaluating additional evidence from social media platforms in the coming days.
“It will take time to evaluate this additional evidence, interview additional witnesses based on that new information, and to determine if the incident meets the legal requirements for criminal charges,” Williams said.
The varsity football team is set to return to the field Friday in a game versus Post Falls. The school has not said which if any of the alleged offenders will be allowed to participate, but several of their names are still listed on the official online roster.
The victim said she will not be returning to classes at Timberline, according to her TikTok account, which showed a photo of her in an airplane and a note that she was giving up on in-person school after years of bullying.
Razzan Nakhlawi contributed to this report.
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