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Students circulate lewd photos
(by Karen F. Mrnarevic - June 11, 2008)
The “e-Learning District,” as the
Pascack
Valley
Regional
School District calls itself, experienced a rude awakening last week, when seven boys at
Pascack
Valley
Regional
High School were caught circulating lewd pictures via school-issued laptop computers. The pictures showed around 20 different girls, some of whom are also students at Pascack Valley, in “various stages of undress,” to quote a press release issued by Superintendent Benjamin Tantillo on Tuesday, June 1. The photos appeared to have been taken using cell phone cameras.
According to the press release, several of the photos were taken a few years ago, when the girls were in middle school. “These are old pictures resurfacing,” said Tantillo in a phone interview. “It’s hard to determine who took them.” But it is known who is responsible for bringing them into the school and circulating them among members of the student body. Apparently, one student brought the photo files to school on a flash chip and uploaded them onto his computer, then proceeded to distribute them among a group of six male students via flash drive and cell phone.
The students caught distributing the photos were each suspended for “up to five days,” said Tantillo, “and, although it’s a moot point at this time, their technology privileges were suspended for remainder of the year.” He said he was unable to comment about whether the female students in the pictures would also face punishment and/or counseling.
As part of the school’s “1:1 Laptop Program,” each student at the high school is issued a laptop computer, which they have in their possession “24/7.” Tantillo said that while there are numerous security measures in place to prevent students from viewing inappropriate material or visiting questionable Internet sites, the photos in question were not sent via e-mail, and therefore went undetected by the school’s Web administrator.
“Our filtering system doesn’t allow pictures to come in from outside… But all the pictures were taken out of school by cell phones. They were brought in on a flash drive,” said Tantillo. He added, “This is more of a cell phone camera issue than anything.” The students’ laptops are randomly checked for inappropriate material, and if a student “attempts to go to a Web site or send an e-mail with certain words in there, they pop up to our administrator.” Additionally, said Tantillo, cell phones are allowed in school, but may not be used in class. “I kind of like the idea of having them available for emergency contact purposes,” he said.
The parents of the entire student body at
Pascack
Valley
High School were notified of the incident via e-mail, or eAlert, Tantillo said. No other notification was provided to parents of students who were not directly involved in the incident. Tantillo said he believes that all parents should take the time to educate their kids about the seriousness of this situation. “To me it’s expected that they would talk to their kids, particularly the girls, to have more respect for themselves than to distribute photos of themselves in various states of undress,” he said.
On Friday, June 6, Principal Tom DeMaio asked Hillsdale Police to have a member of the Bergen County Computer Crimes Unit speak to the students in two assemblies. The assembly was “very well received by the students and staff,” according to the press release, and included details on the laws governing child pornography in the state of
New Jersey . Although in
New Jersey the dissemination of nude photos of children (under the age of 16) can be considered distribution of child pornography, “it was determined that the issue was a school matter and action would be taken by the school administration,” according to the press release.
“It’s a phenomenon that’s occurring across the country,” Tantillo said, “and I can’t explain it other than because of TV and movies they [kids] have become numb to things like this, like it’s not that big a deal.”
Being the father of three daughters, Tantillo said the incident was particularly disturbing. “I can’t imagine a young woman doing that… especially with the technology and how fast things like this can spread.”
Karen F. Mrnarevic's e-mail address is Mrnarevic@northjersey.com.
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