Waukesha parents warned about illicit photos on students' cell phones
Waukesha - Police and school officials are urging parents to check for naked photos on their children's cell phones after a 14-year-old girl learned that her nude photo ended up in the hands of hundreds of area high school students.
The Waukesha West High School student sent the photo to her boyfriend, but when the couple broke up, he forwarded it to other students using his cell phone, Waukesha police Capt. Mark Stigler said Tuesday. Police have talked to the core group responsible and may recommend felony possession of child pornography charges, he said. Police have recovered computers belonging to the teens to investigate whether they also sent the photos over the Internet.
"We know it's a hard stance, but how else do we deal with this?" Stigler said. "Kids are being immature and doing foolish things."
An automated phone message from the Waukesha School District went to parents Monday and Tuesday asking them to talk to their children and check the phones for illicit photos.
Police want parents to delete any inappropriate photos because the magnitude of the potential proliferation of photos is too large to investigate, Stigler said.
Parents need to impress upon their children the seriousness of the issue, reminding them that possession of such photos could ruin their lives, Stigler said. People convicted of possession of child pornography are labeled sex offenders and required to register their address with police departments.
"This is a societal issue," Stigler said about the exchange of nude photos.
Students engaging in "sexting" - sending nude or partially naked photos via a cell phone text message - is concerning educators nationwide. Last week, six Massachusetts middle school students found themselves facing charges after police found that one boy took a nude photo of his 13-year-old girlfriend and "sexted" it to his pals' cell phones.
In a nationwide survey by the National Campaign to Support Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy, about 20% of teens said they had participated in sexting.
Last week, two Waukesha West High School students were given tickets alleging disorderly conduct after it was discovered the couple exchanged nude photos of each other. They did not face more serious charges because the pictures were exchanged only between the couple, Stigler said.
All of which has Waukesha district leaders and other school officials wading into difficult territory. In addition to the sensitive sexual nature, educators are dealing with new student wellness concerns that didn't exist before technology became so prolific.
School staffs can only do so much, Waukesha Superintendent Todd Gray said. Parents must be the ones to engage their kids and address the issues of electronic communication outside of school hours.
"The worst thing in the world is for our kids to get their life wrecked because of some silly impulse," Gray said. "Students need to understand that there are serious consequences for this," he said.
Gray and other district leaders scheduled a policy committee Tuesday to discuss electronic communication in schools, as well as disciplinary action for the children involved in the sexting" incident.
Mike Nowak, principal of Waukesha South High School, said that before the issues at West occurred, district leaders were already discussing what to do in response to the electronic communication scandal that unfolded in New Berlin schools earlier this month. Anthony Stancl, a former New Berlin Eisenhower student, faces charges that he used the social networking Web site Facebook to dupe male students into sending explicit photos of themselves, then blackmailing them into sexual encounters with him.
Melissa Thompson, the principal at Waukesha West, said she is putting together an electronic communication workshop for parents. Like many schools that have held information sessions about cyber bullying and Internet safety in recent months, West's have a history of low turnout, Thompson said.
"I've heard parents say that checking their child's phone or going through their instant messages is like going through their journal," Thompson said. "It is not. It takes constant vigilance, and it's not easy."
