Teacher forced to resign over inappropriate pics on her phone. Something is just wrong here

[gwynne]

This situation is annoying me more than anything like this ever has. Everyone is assuming that the teacher's phone didn't have a password on it, but maybe it did. My phone doesn't 'time out' immediately; it takes like a minute or two of being idle before it does that - can't remember what I put the setting at. Regardless though, if she set her phone down on her desk and had to step out of her class - I'm sure the photos she took of herself and put in an app somewhere on her phone wasn't at the forefront of her mind. Plus, these are high-schoolers; it's not like they aren't capable of minding their manners for a few minutes while a teacher steps out of class. It's not like it was a class full of Kindergarteners. Being the parent of two teenagers myself, I would be LIVID if my kid did what this kid did with a teacher's private property. That kid had NO business touching her phone, let alone doing what he did. Shame on him. Kids that pull this kind of crap need to be taught a lesson in respecting others; especially their elders.

I will say that if it were me who took photos like that for my husband, I would've dumped them off onto my computer so they wouldn't be traveling around with me on my cell phone. That's where I feel the teacher's mistake was. I absolutely do not think it's right that she was forced to resign from her position for this...I find that infuriating!

http://www.wyff4.com/news/teacher-r...-picture-of-her-school-district-says/38256416

Apparently the phone was left on the desk and unlocked. "She said, "He had to hit my apps button and to open up all my apps and then open my gallery."

I totally agree about the kid. What he did was deliberate and cruel. Finally, the oddest thing about this whole story? She teaches some kind of technology.

 

[Wishing on a star]

I really object to the the article calling it a "prank" . A prank would have been setting up the teacher's desk in the hallway, not ruining her life.

I also very much agree with this.
A prank would have been hiding the phone to see her freak out thinking it is missing.
A criminal act is never a 'prank'.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

Looking at the big picture, I'm not seeing how "students might lose respect for her". She sent partially nude pictures to her husband once, on Valentine's Day, in response to his request. It's not like she's madly sexting everyone in town. She's only 33. Kids in high school understand sexting more than us older people do. (Professionals I know who work with high schoolers tell me "they're all doing it now".) It's thought of more as "fun" than something untoward. So if "they're all doing it themselves" is true, I don't see why they'd lose respect for a teacher who sent a nude picture to her husband. Don't we want married couples to continue to have fun with eachother? Who's going to want to get married if they think they can't have fun anymore?

Did she use bad judgement? Idk. I think anyone who doesn't lock their phone is probably using bad judgement because we tend to have so much personal information on them now. I'm not ready to tar and feather her given the circumstances. I think she's a normal person and I think this is becoming the way of the world we live in.

As for the kid, what he did was criminal. He should've been arrested and charged.

 

[declansdad]

Agree to disagree on this.

Sorry but there is nothing in the story to indicate what type of teacher she is.

It also states that the pictures were partially nude so there is the possibility that her bases were covered.

 

[declansdad]

Sorry, but I also have very little sympathy.
I simply can not muster the sympathy for anyone who would be going around with nude photos like that.
She is a teacher, and she brought that phone to school and did not make sure that it was not available to minor students.

She took the photos, she did not completely secure them, and this is what happens.
Isn' that what all of us parents are warning our teens about?
It could have been anybody, anywhere, who happened to find the opportunity to view and spread photos.

The kid stole the phone from her desk, if you stole something off my desk and then threatened me that trouble was coming (which the kid did) you can be sure I would be reporting you to the police for theft.

 

[AnnaFloridaLover]

I think the teacher has paid her 'stupid tax'. For as much as people like to think that their phone is their own business and all pictures on there are private and confidential...exactly what protection do they have for someone not seeing them? Putting a lock on your phone is one way (obviously the teacher didn't do that - stupid tax part 1). Leaving your phone in your purse/car (obviously the teacher didn't do that - stupid tax part 2). Leaving partially nude pictures on your phone at all (obviously that was something the teacher did - stupid tax part 3.

What is 'partially nude' though? I mean, some bathing suits are 'partially nude' (or beyond!).

The 16 year old deserves to have his behind kicked but I'll be surprised if it happens. It's all 'boys will be boys', 'kids will be kids','what did you expect'?

I do not agree with blaming the teacher in this situation at all. She has a right to assume privacy of her belongings including the contents on her phone. 100% of the blame should be placed on the student.

 

[The Mystery Machine]

Que the Puritans... There is nothing wrong with having sexy photos of yourself. There is nothing wrong with keeping them on your private phone. The little turd kid stoleg this teacher's phone and and distributed her private photos. He ought to be expelled for that.

I'm team teacher on this one. We should be proud of our bodies and our sexuality and she should not be slut-shamed or whatever for having nude photos.

Puritans? I am far from it, lol.

My new saying is "Better Living Through Facts".

A basic common sense fact is to not leave your phone accessible to students in the first place.

You can plaster your walls with nudity at home. Don't bring it to your job where you work with children. DUH.

 

[PollyannaMom]

...Being the parent of two teenagers myself, I would be LIVID if my kid did what this kid did with a teacher's private property. That kid had NO business touching her phone, let alone doing what he did. Shame on him...

I agree. My kid would be in huge trouble as well!

...I absolutely do not think it's right that she was forced to resign from her position for this...I find that infuriating!...

Forced to resign, no. I agree with you. But could you stand up in front of a class that had seen you "partially nude" and teach normally? I think a lot of teachers would have resigned anyway out of embarrassment. It's really sad that the whole thing happened at all!

 

[lifesavacation]

I wonder if the teacher's state has any revenge porn laws. I would personally go after this kid and make him pay for what he did.

I don't think the photos will have any impact on her ability to teach students. I see no reason the teacher should have been forced to resign.

 

[Magpie]

Of course, the "lets blame the victim" mentality. Reminds me of people who say women deserve harassment because of the way they were dressed.
Coming from some people, this mindset doesn't surprise me, but from others it's sad and surprising to see.

No one ever deserves to be harassed, for any reason.

But, one of the tricky things I've addressed while teaching sex ed to teens is the concept of personal responsibility and making smart choices. Going alone to a bar in a strange city and getting extremely drunk is the classic example. Do you deserve to be victimized? Certainly not! But if you do this and bad things happen to you, then you do need to accept that you could have prevented this, if you'd made smarter choices. Accepting personal responsibility does not in ANY way absolve your attacker of their guilt or responsibility. But, at the same time, being victimized does not absolve you of all responsibility either. We are all individually responsible for our own actions and the outcomes of those actions. So make smart choices!

With regards to this teacher's actions... I've had children try to steal my phone right off my hip. I had one boy run away with my phone, punching buttons in a vain attempt to unlock it before I could catch him. Young children are grabby, curious and don't understand boundaries. Teenagers are sneakier, curious, and still fuzzy on boundaries. I'm frankly baffled as to how this teacher could have thought that it'd ever be reasonable to leave her phone within reach of her students, unlocked.

Did the teacher deserve to have her phone stolen and her pics shown around? No. But it's fair to ask why she didn't take reasonable steps to protect her pictures and personal info, and why she was so unaware of her environment that it never occurred to her that a student might take her phone. Maybe the only answer to these questions is, "I didn't think." In which case, she's now become the cautionary example to everyone else.

(I used to tell my kids, quite often, "Stop! Think! Don't be the cautionary tale!" So far, so good... )

 

[cijay]

I do not agree with blaming the teacher in this situation at all. She has a right to assume privacy of her belongings including the contents on her phone. 100% of the blame should be placed on the student.

She has a right to assume anything she pleases- but that's what it is, an assumption. She has no guarantee and it got her in a lot of hot water. Yes, the student is 100% to blame for the distribution of the picture but anyone with active brain cells knows that NOTHING on your phone is secure or private. Anything can be accessed with a slip of one's own judgement. Her judgement slipped. Should she be fired? I don't think so - especially without something happening to the students (you can't tell me only one boy passed it along). But I think she can now make a career about going to schools and lecturing about taking racy photos on your phone or putting them on facebook. Pictures of you can end up anywhere.

As for calling it 'porn' - before I know what 'partially nude' is - I'm not going to put the two in the same camp.

 

[FlightlessDuck]

Que the Puritans... There is nothing wrong with having sexy photos of yourself. There is nothing wrong with keeping them on your private phone.

Any data you store digitally is exponentially easier to leak to the general public than any "analog" data. So, while morally speaking there's nothing "wrong" with having private digital photos, you really need to come to terms with the fact that you can't know they will stay private. Just ask any celebrity with leaked nudes. It's not your fault when you get victimized, but if you didn't have that stuff to begin with, you wouldn't be in trouble. Most people won't walk around in public with thousands of dollars in cash on them. You should think of sexy pictures the same way. You want to film yourself and your SO? Store that in self-storage mediums hidden somewhere in your house. DVDs. VHS. Polaroids. Storing nudies on the cloud or the phone? Not smart.

 

[Dentam]

The kid stole the phone from her desk, if you stole something off my desk and then threatened me that trouble was coming (which the kid did) you can be sure I would be reporting you to the police for theft.

Totally agree that the kid should be in big trouble for this. I also think the punishment for the teacher is pretty harsh, but I think it would be hard for her to continue working there after this. Hopefully it won't affect her ability to find another teaching job and she will have learned to be more careful in the future.

 

[smiths02]

I think a teacher has a reasonable right to expect that photos on a personal cell phone are private and would not be seen by students (not wallpaper easily viewed if the phone happens to fall into someone'S sight lines, but photos in the gallery somewhere) . it doesn't sound like she loaned the phone with these photos to students and left them to look through her pictures, or otherwise gave any sort of permission for use of her phone. much less looking at the photos on it or distributing said photos.

While I think she made a stupid mistake that she probably regrets, she should not lose her job over it.

She is probably allowed to bring her prescription medication, and she should take care in securing it.
I would think that many schools specify things you are not allowed to have : pornography, weapons, alcohol, illegal drugs

 

[nugov2]

I read the article where it says she is a hall monitor and that is why she wasn't in the class. This happened during a class change. The punk who took the phone then said "your day of reckoning is coming". I hope this kid gets arrested and she sues him.

There is a difference between misconduct and a mistake. She made a mistake, it wasn't a situation where her behavior was in violation with her job. She now has to deal with the consequences which are most likely embarrassment, but losing her job over an honest mistake seems wrong. If this is just one in a long line of on the job mistakes that is one thing, but if it is her first workplace issue she should just be written up and dealt with not forced to resign. This also wasn't porn it was a boudoir photo for her husband. It may be no worse than a sexy Sports illustrated photo.

 

[NHdisneylover]

But once again, there is a reasonable use for a lighter if she smokes. If she left her purse on the floor in the hallway, certainly she would have more responsibility for the hypothetical fire. But, most teachers put their purses in a drawer or closet, away from students. I can't think of any reasonable use of nude photos in the workplace. That said, if she likes to keep nude photos on her phone, she should have a very secure passcode and certainly keep the phone in a safe place. That doesn't guarantee they won't be seen, but at least it lessens the risk.

Again--it was her PHONE. There are many reasonable uses for a phone.

 

[kaytieeldr]

Kid to blame for stealing and distribution of porn. He needs to face criminal charges. The teacher is also to blame for bringing porn to school. serious lack of judgment on both sides.

Partial nudity doesn't necessarily mean pornography.

It's a hard lesson for the teacher, but the fact is that she did something mind-bogglingly dumb. She put nude photos of herself on an unlocked phone. Unless she was secretly hoping to see herself all over the internet someday, this was not a good plan. Phones get lost. ALL the time.

And now her ability to do her job has been compromised.

Lost, sure. Intentionally taken, searched, images photographed and redistributed? Not so much.

She is a teacher, and she brought that phone to school and did not make sure that it was not available to minor students.

That phone? You're saying she should have separate phones - one for bringing to school, and one for every other aspect of life.

 

[RitaE]

Really I don't think the issue is that she had the phone or that she had the pictures, unless the school employment contracts have language regarding possession of those items on school property.

The issue is she left the phone with the pictures unsecured, on top of a desk, in an unsupervised classroom with students present. If she had done that with medication or a lighter or whatever and the wrong student did the wrong thing … she'd be facing similar consequences.

 

[gwynne]

Again--it was her PHONE. There are many reasonable uses for a phone.

I don't disagree with you.
I also think that the phone storage convenience doesn't outweigh the risk in bringing nude photos to school. Who needs the potential hassles?

 

[Wishing on a star]

The kid stole the phone from her desk, if you stole something off my desk and then threatened me that trouble was coming (which the kid did) you can be sure I would be reporting you to the police for theft.

Sure, I would too!!!!
To take something and distribute it, without express permission is a criminal act.
I have never thought that kid should be let off the hook.

But, it still stands that I agree with MM and a few others here.

I, just personally, have little sympathy for this woman.