School Suspends Students For Finding 'Racy' Photo Teacher Accidentally Put On Their iPads

from the that-seems-backwards dept

We’ve seen schools that ridiculously blame and suspend their students for videotaping misdeeds by staff or faculty… but this latest story is really bizarre. A female middle school teacher in Anderson, Indiana somehow (and the details are not at all clear) put a “racy” photo of herself onto a school-issued iPad that students were using. They found the photo… and the school suspended the students. Again, the details are pretty hazy. The photo was described by one of the students as a “topless” photo, but a police report on the incident said it was “from the neck down, with partial exposure.” At the link above, Kash Hill suggests this sounds more like “a classic no-face, no-shirt shot that involved a bra and possible cleavage but no actual nudity.”

It’s also not entirely clear how it got onto the iPad, though the suggestion is that it may have had something to do with Apple’s iCloud syncing across devices. It’s entirely possible that the teacher used her own account for her own iPhone and the school iPad, leading to the images from her phone syncing to the iPad. No matter what, it makes no sense that the students are suspended and may face even more punishment:

Those students have been suspended and threatened with expulsion.

The students, quite reasonably, are infuriated at this:

“It’s not our fault that she had the photo on there,” Troutt said. “We couldn’t do anything not to look at it, if it just popped up when he pressed the button. It was her fault that she had the photo on there. Her iPhone synched to it. She had to have pressed something to make all of her photos synch on there.”

When asked about it, the school district’s assistant superintendent Beth Clark told the media “the students’ punishment will not be changed.” Hopefully the students will seek to get the suspension overturned in some way, because based on the details this seems absolutely ridiculous.

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Comments on “School Suspends Students For Finding 'Racy' Photo Teacher Accidentally Put On Their iPads”

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112 Comments
That Anonymous Coward (profile) says:

So teachable moment…
1 – Learn how technology works.
2 – Punishing children for your screwups NEVER ENDS WELL.
3 – Giving explicit material to children and providing the method of its delivery.

Oh FFS… I know why they insist on punishing the kids.

Assistant Superintendent Beth Clark told NewsChannel5’s sister station RTV6 the technology use policy was followed and what happened was quite by accident.

Zero Tolerance Policies anyone?
We have a policy that says you get x punishment for misusing our technology… even when its our fault.

First lawsuit exposing my minor to porn. Kiss your career goodbye, you pervert out to warp children!
This is full on CYA, we followed policy in this matter blah blah blah…

The real losers will be the kids, who will have even more embarrassment and issues about sex and naked people as they grow up.

Robert (profile) says:

Will the students bully her into suicide? Maybe call the teacher a slut, create a Facebook page about it, maybe email the photo to all of the teacher’s contacts and friends and family and coworkers? Maybe repeatedly harass her in the halls and in the classroom, then on the various social networks the teacher is involved in?

I do hope the details are just screwed up because punishing the students based upon only viewing the image she screwed up and synced to the machines is beyond idiotic.

Now if students being suspended make harassing comments towards the teacher, then they deserve suspension.

The details are what matters. Something must have happened, like the students telling everyone “hey Mrs Teacher is in her bra is on the iPad” or some comments made.

That Anonymous Coward (profile) says:

Re: Re:

Once upon a time a school expelled a child for bringing a GI Joe style gun to school. I mean one of those little pieces of plastic not anything remotely close to a real weapon. They justified their actions with their zero tolerance policies and being unable to do anything else.

This school has a policy about the acceptable use of technology, and there is no doubt in my mind there is a section on if we catch you with porn X will happen.

Robert (profile) says:

Re: Re: Re:

I didn’t blame the kids, I tried to rationalize how it was possible to suspend someone who didn’t do anything other than look. Even if it was a technology policy that was given as the excuse, I don’t buy it. If they sought the photo, yes, but it was a technological blunder, so no.

My comments clearly state that if they were suspended it must have been because of comments made by the students or potential for harassment.

If this happened to a female student, she would have been harassed by teachers and students alike. And I was taking a jab at the students who did nothing and who attacked Amanda Todd.

That Anonymous Coward (profile) says:

Re: Re: Re: Re:

Zero tolerance.
We have a policy, we ALWAYS follow policy.
This is how we learn to respect each other and society.

Really this is how they operate, it makes no freaking sense because they no longer get to make objective decisions and as everything is spelled out in their policy document and you have to sign off on it you accept we do EVERYTHING by the book. Even when it makes no freaking sense.

PRMan (profile) says:

Re: Re:

“Will the students bully her into suicide? Maybe call the teacher a slut, create a Facebook page about it, maybe email the photo to all of the teacher’s contacts and friends and family and coworkers? Maybe repeatedly harass her in the halls and in the classroom, then on the various social networks the teacher is involved in?”

“Now if students being suspended make harassing comments towards the teacher, then they deserve suspension.”

Hunh?

Keroberos (profile) says:

Re: The reaf WTF

Because some salesperson convinced some idiot on the school board that iPads are great learning tools. Apple–and other tech companies have been doing this for years. In the 80s my grade school bought a bunch of Apple IIes that were only ever used to play games (ooo Oregon Trail, so educational–or not), the rest of the time they sat and gathered dust–no one on the staff there had any idea how to use them–let alone how to teach anyone anything useful with them.

Plus the idiotic belief that throwing these new tech devices at our kids will somehow magically fix the education system–which is funny because my grade school kids, who have minimal (less than an hour a week) time on computers or tech gadgets at home, consistently get high marks in school.

Anonymous Coward says:

Re: Re: The reaf WTF

In the 80s my grade school bought a bunch of Apple IIes that were only ever used to play games (ooo Oregon Trail, so educational–or not), the rest of the time they sat and gathered dust–no one on the staff there had any idea how to use them–let alone how to teach anyone anything useful with them.

That’s too bad for you, because I learned how to program in Basic on an Apple IIe in 8th grade… in a programming class offered at my junior high. Sounds like your school didn’t bother to hire the right teacher to use the technology. Don’t blame the school for buying technology; blame the school for not implementing it properly.

Keroberos (profile) says:

Re: Re: Bit early

Yeah, She synced a school iPad to her personal iTunes account which pulls all of your data over. So there’s multiple levels of school district failure here: Why can a school issued device even sync to an iTunes account? Can’t they lock syncing? If they can’t, why is it being used in the schools by our children?

Great, the kids can put their games/music/movies on it–how educational. Another fine example of a school board wasting money on something because it’s “new and shiny” without having a clue how to use it in an educational setting.

Keroberos (profile) says:

Re: Re: Re:4 Bit early

True, but you can limit the amount of stupidity that can be accomplished. Which goes back to my previous point. If you can’t limit the stupidity in it’s use, don’t allow it’s use.

I, for one can’t think of any legitimate use for an iPad in an educational setting that couldn’t be accomplished some other less expensive way. It’s a toy. We should be using our time and money actually teaching our kids something useful, not giving them shiny toys to play with and calling it education.

That Anonymous Coward (profile) says:

Re: Re: Re:5 Bit early

Given their stated goals in their handbook the iPads are used to show them what they can have if they work hard in life. They have some sort of edutainment game on them they reward with, but its dangling a very expensive carrot to get the kids motivated.
It sounds like this district has serious issues with kids not giving a damn, so show them the trapping of success and they will want them. They will get them and start their own debt treadmill and the corporation will have made new drones to move to the next corporation.

Michael Becker (profile) says:

Re: Re: Re: Bit early

We are actually finding a lot of problems with apple devices in the corporate environment, I imagine its even worse in schools.

I’m currently trying to sort out why Apple’s recommended course for action for buying software for employees to use is to buy a code to give to the employee to redeem in their PERSONAL iTunes acct. So if the employee leaves, the software does too.

Straight up, Apple is moving farther and farther away from being functional in corporate/enterprise/educational environments, yet because they are trendy everyone wants them, and it is causing huge headaches for everyone.

Anonymous Coward says:

Re: double standards

I came here just to post this, I think if it were a collection of female students that had found it, the male teacher wouldn’t have even been able to argue his case before being thrown into PITA prison.

But now that it’s a bunch of boys, clearly it’s some naive innocent school teacher who is unfamiliar with technology being brutally taken advantage of by evil cisprivileged males who may or may not have been trying to blackmail her into being their sexual slaves because all men are like that.

At least this is the story that several news/opinion sites and blogs would want you to believe because of their kneejerk reaction to the digested, watered-down fact of “The teacher can’t operate her phone and distributed light pornography to students by accident”.

That Anonymous Coward (profile) says:

some highlights...

anderson community school corporation

“To improve graduation rate from 57% to 87% in five years”
So they are doing a BANG up job.

The following acts are specifically prohibited:
1.Sending or displaying offensive messages or pictures, or accessing, uploading, downloading or distributing pornographic, obscene or sexually explicit material;
2.Using vulgar or obscene language;
3.Harassing, insulting, or attacking others;
4.Damaging any computers or equipment, computer systems or computer networks;
5.Using the school computer networks to violate the law;
6.Using another?s password without express permission;
7.Trespassing in another?s folders, work or files;
8.Intentionally wasting limited resources; or
9.Employing the network for commercial purposes.
Violations may result in loss of access as well as other disciplinary or legal action.

20. Knowingly using profane or obscene language, making obscene gestures, using racial or ethnic slurs, or making threats directed at a school corporation employee either on or off school grounds.

30. Accessing computer systems which the student has not been authorized to use. Unauthorized entry into a computer system constitutes a class D felony.

Students may not use personal electronic signaling devices at school to take pictures, film or video of students or school staff (including teachers, administrators or staff) without the prior written consent of the student or staff person.

Corporal Punishment, you can be punished for what you did on summer vacation, drug testing, uniforms, spelled out punishments for fireworks in the halls and arson, and the right to opt out of supplemental instruction if you have objections to the material.

Yeah this isn’t a place built on overreaching control.

That Anonymous Coward (profile) says:

Re: Re: some highlights...

of course not. The rules are all about keeping the kids in line.

they knew it was obscene when they saw it.

Moreso I think they were hoping to fear the kids into shutting up about the incident and well that worked out really well for them.

They played within their rules, but the downside is the public really dislikes stupid enforcement of the rules.

Anonymous Coward says:

The Emporer's New Clothes

Once upon a time, there was an Emperor who got taken in by some conmen posing as tailors. Cutting straight to the chase: The Emperor strutted out naked as jaybird leading a grand glorious parade, on national TV.

One child on the sidewalk, pointed at the Emperor, laughed, and said, ?Look, mommy! The Emperor is naked as a jaybird!?

The Emperor’s secret police heard that. Everyone heard that. It was on national TV. The Emperor’s secret police immediately arrested the child… and the child’s mother. And father. And siblings. They were all sentenced to ten years in the re-education camps.

The End.

Robert (profile) says:

Stupid Part

They see more on prime time television (bra commercials) and billboards throughout the town or the Sears catalog all the time.

Stupid part of following policy blindly is that it shows just how stupid you are. If you can’t understand objectivity and how to apply policies (hint: not blindly), then you should not be a principal.

Bob V (profile) says:

You always hear people bemoan the loss of opportunity for a teachable moment but in reality this was a School of hard knocks teachable moment. Those kids have been taught that abuse of authority is okay. The rules can be twisted to do and mean anything. And most importantly life isn’t fair and you gotta get yours before someone else beats you down.

That Anonymous Coward (profile) says:

Re: Re: Re:

Actually the handbook has punishments for them if they are to close to a fight happening. They are to immediately scatter and fetch and adult.

They have around 20 pages of overreaching rules and punishments listed, but if they discover lice they don’t have to alert the parents. It is a parents job to check their kid daily.

It pretty much has a bootcampish feel to all of the rules and responsibilities placed on the students.

Milton Freewater says:

I think I get it

“”It’s not our fault that she had the photo on there,” Troutt said. “We couldn’t do anything not to look at it, if it just popped up when he pressed the button. It was her fault that she had the photo on there. Her iPhone synched to it. She had to have pressed something to make all of her photos synch on there.”

I think the reason for the suspension is stated in the kid’s quote above. They saw that the teacher had accidentally synced a personal device to the iPad so they “pressed the button,” i.e. snooped.

Notice the kid is blaming the teacher for syncing her phone to the iPad. He seems to think that once she did that he had the right to go through her stuff.

That Anonymous Coward (profile) says:

Re: I think I get it

YAY BLAME THE VICTIM!

The iPad is school property. Her phone is not.
Her phone should not have been connected to the school computer and the iPad should NOT have been connected to her account.

They were playing a game and then the picture happened.
Would anyone with a couple of iThingys please explain what happens when they sync? Is there a notification popup or something?

Her stuff did not belong on school property, but sure blame the kids.

Idiot.

Keroberos (profile) says:

Re: Re: I think I get it

Yes, when you connect an iDevice to your personal iTunes account it asks if you want to sync, but how many people really understand what that means? How many people actually read the notification popups–or do they just click OK? And since I don’t use iCloud, I don’t know if it asks to sync, or if it just does it. Seeing as it’s Apple, it probably just does it–user friendliness and all that.

My question is, why does a school have a device for use by the students that allows you to put whatever the hell you want on it? If you can’t lock that ability out, they have no business using them in an educational setting. If they can be locked they need to get some IT people that know what the hell they are doing. In any case the school was extremely negligent in using these devices in an educational setting.

Anonymous Coward says:

Re: I think I get it

Totally the kid’s fault for going through his own iPad issued by the school, right? He should have developed the psychic ability to see that the devices had synced ahead of time before trying to use a device that he thought was his to operate.

I’m sure that sweet, innocent teacher who is taking topless photos of herself is completely blameless for not understanding how her phone works and letting it sync to someone else’s device. Clearly these evil students were trying to go through her stuff like the untrustworthy rapscallions they are.

It’s like how I sync my phone to the display ipads at the apple store, wait behind the counter for someone to look at it the wrong way, and then I jump out and beat them with a crowbar. If they didn’t want to get beaten with a crowbar, they shouldn’t have been ‘going through my stuff’.

Anonymous Coward says:

Re: I think I get it

Totally the kid’s fault for going through his own iPad issued by the school, right? He should have developed the psychic ability to see that the devices had synced ahead of time before trying to use a device that he thought was his to operate.

I’m sure that sweet, innocent teacher who is taking topless photos of herself is completely blameless for not understanding how her phone works and letting it sync to someone else’s device. Clearly these evil students were trying to go through her stuff like the untrustworthy rapscallions they are.

It’s like how I sync my phone to the display ipads at the apple store, wait behind the counter for someone to look at it the wrong way, and then I jump out and beat them with a crowbar. If they didn’t want to get beaten with a crowbar, they shouldn’t have been ‘going through my stuff’.

Anonymous Coward says:

Re: I think I get it

Totally the kid’s fault for going through his own iPad issued by the school, right? He should have developed the psychic ability to see that the devices had synced ahead of time before trying to use a device that he thought was his to operate.

I’m sure that sweet, innocent teacher who is taking topless photos of herself is completely blameless for not understanding how her phone works and letting it sync to someone else’s device. Clearly these evil students were trying to go through her stuff like the untrustworthy rapscallions they are.

It’s like how I sync my phone to the display ipads at the apple store, wait behind the counter for someone to look at it the wrong way, and then I jump out and beat them with a crowbar. If they didn’t want to get beaten with a crowbar, they shouldn’t have been ‘going through my stuff’.

Michael (profile) says:

She is a teacher?

First, I wasn’t aware that people were still dumb enough to be taking naked pictures of themselves with a device designed specifically to distribute said picture.

More importantly, here is a woman dumb enough to take a picture of herself in some state of nakedness (enough for it to be some kind of a problem) and was inept enough to in some way allow this picture to end up in the hands of multiple children. Why was she teaching our youth to begin with?

One of the first questions on a job application for a teacher should be: “Are you an idiot?”

streetlight (profile) says:

The reason many school administrators...

are administrators is they were too stupid to teach and managed to get out of the classroom. After a few years of teaching, most teachers want desperately to get out of the classroom into administration where the real money is. The average teacher lasts less than 5 years in the profession. They get out either to school administration or real estate sales. It’s really amazing the dumb things both teachers and school administrators do. Prime example here.

Deimal (profile) says:

So check this out

Anderson, IN is about 20 minutes from where I live, and in a little town between mine and Anderson, is an AppleCare technical support center (not owned by Apple, 3rd party supporting Apple products). They are one of the largest employers in the county, so basically everyone in the area knows it exists. Maybe the school there should utilize that expertise and find out what the hell they are talking about before they go off an destroy students’ lives. FFS this is stupidity on a level I find incredibly appalling.

Anonymous Numbskull (profile) says:

Hmm. I found something interesting in one of my classes today. In the area I live, there’s apparently some ‘legal aid centers’ that provide legal help in civil cases for free. Wonder if they have any in Anderson, Indiana. It’d certainly make it easier to sue if you don’t have the threat of ‘win or you get to pay a bunch of money you don’t have’ hanging above your head.

Tom Teshima (profile) says:

Update from the district said the students were only supposed to be working in 2 other apps, and they accessed the photos without permission. So they are being suspended for opening an app on a school ipad without permission!

As to why the teacher synced to her personal account, my district just issued some ipads, but won’t pay for any apps. So to buy any apps, you have to be synced to a personal account (for the Credit Card). I’m sure this is what happened to this unfortunate teacher. But these kids are being railroaded, for sure. Lawsuit time. But then again it’s Indiana!

Anonymous Coward says:

Re: Re:

You are right on. Many teachers lay out their personal funds in order to get stuff that improves the educational experience for both students and teachers. I see that in the States and even wealthy Switzerland. Alternately, she may have wanted to upload images or text to the iPad that she had found at the web while at home. A rule not to link the machines would damage productivity.

In any case I can’t see what’s the problem with some nude pictures with no bad intent. It’s no different than any other embarrassing little thing, you should just laugh about it afterwards. Big deal.

Chilly8 says:

I don’t see how they could accuse the students of accessing iPhotos “without permission”

Since the district obviously did not lock the ipads down to privent access to iPhotos, there was nothing on the screen saying that accessing the iPhotos app was forbidden. Since the app was not protected by passwords or some kind of authentication system, they cannot be accused of accessing the app without permission.

I smell a lawsuit brewing here, and I hope the parents sue the school out of existence.

orbitalinsertion (profile) says:

Bit early

Yes, there is.

1) This was on the teacher’s iPad, not on all student iPads (if they even have them).

2) The reason for the punishment was the students went looking around the iPad (and into the teacher’s documents folders) instead of sticking to the two applications which they were authorized to use. Certainly, maybe only one student browsed the directories and the others were not interested in doing any such thing, and some are being punished for what only one had done. Then again, maybe not.

3) The teacher may have been a bit irresponsible, but that image may have been automatically synced to the device without her knowledge (as such cloud crap is wont to do), and it wouldn’t matter if the kids were doing only what they were supposed to be doing.

4) But it likely never would have been an incident if the documents browsed did not contain a “racy” image.

5)Although it also would likely not have become an incident if they saw it, closed it and shut up. Who the hell would have known what they had seen then?

Everyone is a bad actor at some level here.

Anonymous Coward says:

iPad not from ACSC

I should add that the iPad involved in the incident probably belonged to the teacher. I am told by a former teacher there that the Anderson Community School Corporation does not issue iPads: It is a total Microsoft shop. Given how decrepit the school corporation is (Anderson was a General Motors town totally abandoned by GM), it could not afford iPads anyway.

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