Teh One Who Knocks
04-07-2014, 11:19 AM
By Aisha Sultan - St Louis Post-Dispatch
At least six students at Fort Zumwalt East High School have had their cellphones seized by authorities for allegedly spreading nude pictures of their classmates.
Fort Zumwalt Superintendent Bernard DuBray said some female students took pictures of themselves “in various stages of undress” and sent them to a few boys, who forwarded those images to their friends.
“These guys, who have gotten their pictures, have been collecting them like someone might collect baseball cards,” DuBray said. The matter came to the attention of school officials this week, who turned it over to the St. Peters Police.
Police officials confirmed they are investigating the allegations, which involves a large number of teens at the school.
“We are investigating the alleged possession and distribution of child pornography due to juveniles sending nude photos of other students,” said Melissa Doss, public information officer for the St. Peters Police department. The cases will be sent to family court, which handles juvenile cases, in a couple of weeks, she said. Neither the district nor the police could say exactly how many students were implicated in the investigation.
The student sexting troubles in Fort Zumwalt come less than a week after a similar incident at North County Middle School in Desloge, Mo., about 60 miles south of St. Louis.
Desloge Police Chief James “Jebo” Bullock said police and juvenile court officials were still interviewing middle school students, who allegedly shared naked pictures taken by five or six girls and sent to boys at the school. North County Superintendent Yancy Poorman refused to comment this week, saying that the district was moving forward from the incident.
DuBray said Fort Zumwalt had invited a former family court judge to conduct seminars two years ago at all the middle schools, discussing how dangerous sexting can be and the legal implications of being charged with a crime for sending or forwarding an inappropriate picture.
“We thought we had given a good indication of how serious this was,” he said. “We’ll be meeting and talking about what we can do to re-emphasize how important and dangerous this is. There is also some common sense involved, and you would expect parents to do the same thing.”
At least six students at Fort Zumwalt East High School have had their cellphones seized by authorities for allegedly spreading nude pictures of their classmates.
Fort Zumwalt Superintendent Bernard DuBray said some female students took pictures of themselves “in various stages of undress” and sent them to a few boys, who forwarded those images to their friends.
“These guys, who have gotten their pictures, have been collecting them like someone might collect baseball cards,” DuBray said. The matter came to the attention of school officials this week, who turned it over to the St. Peters Police.
Police officials confirmed they are investigating the allegations, which involves a large number of teens at the school.
“We are investigating the alleged possession and distribution of child pornography due to juveniles sending nude photos of other students,” said Melissa Doss, public information officer for the St. Peters Police department. The cases will be sent to family court, which handles juvenile cases, in a couple of weeks, she said. Neither the district nor the police could say exactly how many students were implicated in the investigation.
The student sexting troubles in Fort Zumwalt come less than a week after a similar incident at North County Middle School in Desloge, Mo., about 60 miles south of St. Louis.
Desloge Police Chief James “Jebo” Bullock said police and juvenile court officials were still interviewing middle school students, who allegedly shared naked pictures taken by five or six girls and sent to boys at the school. North County Superintendent Yancy Poorman refused to comment this week, saying that the district was moving forward from the incident.
DuBray said Fort Zumwalt had invited a former family court judge to conduct seminars two years ago at all the middle schools, discussing how dangerous sexting can be and the legal implications of being charged with a crime for sending or forwarding an inappropriate picture.
“We thought we had given a good indication of how serious this was,” he said. “We’ll be meeting and talking about what we can do to re-emphasize how important and dangerous this is. There is also some common sense involved, and you would expect parents to do the same thing.”