School officials have control only over when -- not how -- students use their cell phones, laments Licking Valley High School Principal Wes Weaver. When he heard that a 15-year-old female student had sent nude photos of herself to some classmates, Weaver felt largely helpless. All he could do was call the prosecutor and sheriff and await the outcome of an investigation.
The girl has been charged with a delinquency count of illegal use of a minor in nudity-oriented material. Weaver is waiting to learn who else might be involved.
Students who possess sexually graphic or nude images at school, whether on a cell phone or a piece of paper, could face suspension, he said. "We're uncertain how many students received the photo," Weaver said. "We don't know how or when it was sent. … There's not much we can do." Students are allowed to have their cell phones at school but are forbidden to turn them on or use them until they leave school, the principal said.
Licking County Assistant Prosecutor Erin Welch said yesterday that the 15-year-old girl also faces a delinquency count of possession of criminal tools -- her cell phone....
You know ... society has somehow got to figure out how to cope with this. However well-meaning the principal may be, this seems like a woefully inappropriate response. That it was an inappropriate thing to do at school, there is certainly no arguing -- assuming that the images were sent while she was at school. That said, it doesn't sound like that's what she did. In which case, it would seem far more appropriate to have someone talk to the girl about what was and was not permissible.
As it stands, she's very lucky. Other teenagers who have done similar things have found themselves charged with both possession of and intent to distribute child pornography, or charged as sex offenders when the worst they've done is to have photographs of their boyfriend/girlfriend naked.
Of course, the reasonable reaction would be to tell the girl not to be stupid -- after all, she has no idea where those images are ultimately going to wind up, does she? -- and to leave it there, but as long as we persist in trying to keep teenagers in amber, a reaction that muted from anyone official is certainly not going to happen. After all, imagine the hot water that principal would be in if it was discovered that he'd known about the images and done nothing.
Posted by iain at October 09, 2008 06:35 PM
