Westport Community Schools have joined a class action lawsuit filed against several popular social media platforms including TikTok, YouTube andSnapchat, which alleges that those firms' services have led to a mental health crisis in school-age children.

"We see it every day," Superintendent Thomas Aubin said of the impacts social media addiction has had on students.

"Clearly the addictive nature of Social Media is off the charts," he said. "To say this is a crisis is not hyperbole. This isn't a joke — we have a mental health crisis that we're going to be paying for for a really long time."

The school committee unanimously voted to join the class action suit last month. It is being brought by Frantz Law Group out of San Diego, Ca., which alleges that the companies intentionally design and create social media platforms and algorithms to be enticing to youth, despite research that shows the negative effects of social media on mental health. It seeks $1.2 billion in damages.

Aubin said that while he doesn't expect to see much monetarily from the suit, signing on was the right thing to do as it's clear that students' addiction to social media causes self esteem issues, self harm, problems with concentration, and other negative impacts. He believes it's the schools' role to protect students from the negative influences of harmful social media practices and platforms.

"I've always believed that the schools should be the True North of society. For us to no participate would be a tacit submission that we're OK with everything, and we're not.

The suit comes as Westport administrators work to re-evaluate school policies, including those on computers and the possession of phones in school. Currently, phones are not allowed in the lower and middle high school levels, but are allowed at high school level though students must put them in holders when they're in class. That may change, he said:

"We're going to submit a policy of just not allowing them" at high school, he said. "We know kids are going to have them (but) it could be something along the lines of a 'Don't ask, don't tell' policy. District officials are also reviewing their laptop policies, he said.