Teacher told to resign after pupil steals her nude picture

[StevieM]

Source: NY Daily News

~snip~

A South Carolina teacher has been forced to resign after a student stole her phone and shared her naked picture with his classmates.

Leigh Anne Arthur said that her school district bosses in Union County told her to quit her job after the unidentified student found the semi-nude photo she had taken for her husband.

The district’s David Eubanks told WYFF that the 13-year teaching veteran was at fault for leaving her phone unlocked on her desk when she went out of the room, making the pictures available to her students.

He said that the engineering teacher’s actions may have contributed to the delinquency of a minor.

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/teacher-told-resign-pupil-steals-nude-picture-article-1.2549776

[ffr]

1. So the theft of her personal property becomes her fault

Stupid. Besides, it's a semi-nude photo. Who gives a rats ass. So they saw her boobs or butt. BFD!! Grow up people. 50% of the population and 100% of the female population has them.

Arrest or suspend the student.

[valerief]

4. South Carolina justice. nt

[EmperorHasNoClothes]

79. Somewhat more than 50% of the population has boobs

Especially in the vicinity of the nearest State Fair. Of course, only those of the male variety are allowed in public.

[get the red out]

2. Wonderful

Let's have kids learn that the victim is to blame and that they can use any opportunity to harm someone online without consequences.

[brush]

65. I'm betting the best lawyers are lining up to represent her in a lawsuit

She'll do very well against that school district.

[AtheistCrusader]

3. Total BS.

Unless the school district wants to issue phones and forbid BYOD at work, they can't have a say in this. That's HER property. HER device.


If the fact that it's a device muddies the waters, make it purely digital. An e-mail account with security questions that are easily reverse engineered. (Where did you go to school, if it's public knowledge the teacher went to the same school she teachers at, practically an 'unlocked' state)

If she had a school e-mail account and there were naked pics on it, and a student broke in, that would be actionable.

If she had a personal e-mail account and there were naked pics on it, and a student broke in, the district can piss up a rope.

[DhhD]

8. There is no rule against teachers having a phone at school. Teachers are told to call parents as

part of their job duties.

[AtheistCrusader]

18. Exactly. So since they have phones, and phones are cool, one must allow personal content

on those devices.

If they don't accept that a teacher may have content of an unknown type, then they need to issue managed phones for school use only.

One or the other. You cannot treat teachers and their personal property, as school district property.

[adigal]

47. In every school I've ever taught in, there are phones in the classroom

So teachers don't need to bring in phones to do our jobs. Hence, if that phone has semi-nude pics on it, it should stay in the car. That's what I think. She should be fired for being so stupid.

[AtheistCrusader]

49. Oh no, a picture exists of her partially naked. Halt the presses.

Clearly this is a full indictment of her intelligence.

Why, exactly, is this such a big deal?

[adigal]

53. You may not think the kids seeing their teacher partially nude is a big deal

but I guarantee you that the kids themselves, the parents, her colleagues and community members would be pretty freaked out by this. As should the teacher. So yes, it is stupid to bring in something so personal to school - and I don't care if it was in her phone, her pocketbook, etc. You are very dopey and irresponsible to bring that in. She should have been fired, if only for having bad judgment'

[AtheistCrusader]

55. I saw my 6th grade language arts teacher in a bathing suit.

With all the associated emotions you might expect a young male to associate with that. 'partially nude' wouldn't have altered that equation in any meaningful fashion.

Who gives a shit. She was teaching me to swim. Nothing inappropriate came of it. Humans have human thoughts, emotions, predispositions, affections, etc.

Does not matter.


Teachers are humans, not school-district owned machines. They're alive. They're not property.

[adigal]

57. Really? You are equating seeing a teacher in a bathing suit to a partially nude picture of

your teacher? Was she trying to entice you in her bathing suit??

And as a teacher for 25 years, I know that I'm a human and that the district doesn't own me, but I also have an obligation to be smart and not bring in anything the kids can see that is inappropriate. That is why we have a morals clause and stockbrokers don't - we deal with kids.

[AtheistCrusader]

59. Nudity is not a negative thing.

It can be sexual in nature, or non-sexual. It can be sexual and intended for a particular recipient, and observed by a third party. Who cares.

The surface area of the human body is not that big of a deal. Adding more square inches of skin/surface to direct view is not going to break me or damage me, or in any way change my opinion, over how I had already felt as a young male.

I am fully incapable of understanding why this is such a big deal to you.

[adigal]

60. I'm fully incapable of understanding how you think students seeing their teacher

semi-nude is perfectly fine, A-OK, not a big thing at all. Are you crazy???? It's a huge deal, especially for adolescents. And don't pretend that I said that nudity is a negative thing. I said that leaving your phone around where students can get to nude pics is a negative thing.

This conversation has gotten too odd for me. I think you are just messing with me.

[AtheistCrusader]

61. I think it's unimportant.

Does not rise to the level of OH HOLY SHIT FIRE HER SHE'S AN IDIOT.

If you're going to exaggerate my position, I get to exaggerate yours.
And no, I am not crazy. Thanks for that.

[StevieM]

81. The picture was not on the screen of her phone.

She said: "He had to hit my apps button and to open up all my apps and then open my gallery."

[gcomeau]

78. I think the big deal here is the theft and invasion of privacy BY the students.

There is a victim here. It is not the students. Get your head straight.

[FailureToCommunicate]

5. So...if it has to do in any way with something sexual, blame and punish the woman.

Got it. &quot the teacher) made the pictures available to her students" because SHE left her phone unlocked, on her desk.

The student should be suspended and/or charged with theft and more.

Let's see. How would the situation change if a student snatched the (male) principals phone and did the same thing?

Plus, they FORCED her to resign? With what threat I wonder...

Just disgusting.

[narnian60]

26. +100

[bemildred]

6. I smell a lawsuit. nt

[renate]

40. I certainly hope so n/t

[In_The_Wind]

7. South Carolina's Union County school district is wrong.

[fbc]

9. If a teacher had brought in printed naked pictures of themselves that were taken from a folder?

I wonder if people here would feel the same...

[Skittles]

13. I still don't understand why people need naked photos of themselves

don't the people they send them to already KNOW what they look like naked?

[Demonaut]

36. mebbe it wasn't meant for her husband....not to shame her more but it answers your question

[jberryhill]

54. Meh...

I've been cycling for a couple of years, and have a set of photos I've been taking of my leg muscles over that time.

I'm sure there are lots of people who are in fitness programs, weight loss, etc. who, like I do, include taking pictures along with getting on the scale and other ways to track progress.

[Blue_Adept]

63. seriously?

There's all kinds of things people do of this nature that's perfectly normal and fun.

My SO for the longest time would send me random saucy pictures of herself from all sorts of places.

She liked doing it because she knew I love her and her body. She liked doing it because it made her feel great.

Just because some folks have bland and vanilla lives...

[Skittles]

72. LOL

nice assumption there - you know nothing

[Heddi]

64. I still don't understand why people NEED different sexual positions

I mean, missionary gets the job done, amirite?

[Skittles]

71. oh yeah, that's the same thing

[Heddi]

74. Yes, I know it is, that's why I used the analogy

You don't do or like something, therefore you can't understand why other people do or like it.

[Skittles]

75. Pictures can be shared with someone else

the whole world, now

done here

[Heddi]

76. So what. That's probably why the pictures were taken -- to share with someon

Not everyone. Not this student. Not the school.

They were her private pictures. Whether it was of herself naked, her husband, some random person, or a kitten wearing socks. Her private photos that were stolen, against her will, and used to humiliate her. Because despite being in the 21st century, women are still slut-shamed for having the audacity to be sexual beings, or even having the notion of having some amount of sexuality. It's happening in this thread "why do people even have naked pictures" -- um, maybe because it turned her on?

But again, we only approve of people doing things that we like or do. When people do things we don't like or do, then those people have what's coming to them.

[SusanCalvin]

29. I agree.

The students should have left it alone, but assuming they would was a stupid move.

[Skittles]

73. which applies to anyone sharing naked pocs

it is a different world now

[Blue_Adept]

62. Our digital lives follow us everywhere now

So the folder analogy really doesn't work.

But hey, she was wrong for even thinking anything sexual to begin with, even with her husband. Teachers must be chaste and pure as the driven snow. If only for the good old days where teachers who were pregnant were let go so they didn't bring any sort of sexuality into the classroom.

[TeamPooka]

10. Sue that school district. nt

[Xithras]

11. You know, as a former teacher, I'm going to have to take a dissenting view on this one.

Bringing pornography (including amateur homemade pornography) onto school grounds is prohibited in just about every school district in the country. Kids are immediately suspended for posessing it, and is considered a fireable offense in most school districts for teachers to bring it onto school property. By leaving the phone in the drawer, without a lock on the drawer or a password on the phone, the teacher left prohibited contraband in a location where it was directly accessible to the students. At a minimum, it was an incredibly stupid move. In most districts, it's going to bring serious sanctions.

Look at this a bit differently. If this was a male teacher, and the kids opened the unlocked drawer to find a stack of Playboy magazines sitting in an insecure pendaflex marked "Private and Personal", would we go so easy on him? Probably not. Most people would come down on him like a ton of bricks for having prohibited pornographic materials in a location where kids can easily find it in a classroom. The fact that the teacher is a woman, or that the photos were digital instead of print, are irrelevant to the point at hand. She brought porn into a classroom and failed to secure it away from her students.

The students should absolutely be punished for digging through the teachers desk, but the school district isn't out of line for sanctioning the teacher as well.

[StevieM]

14. The student hit on her "apps" icon. It wasn't readily visible on the phone.

A Playboy exists only for one reason, whereas a phone is a regular part of a person's day to day life.

What if he had gone into her email and found photos there?

[AtheistCrusader]

19. And to furhter muddy it

What if the photos were sent TO her rather than originated FROM her in that e-mail. That's not even a thing that she could control.

But, the material would be present and accessible on the phone.

[Xithras]

25. The medium isn't actually relevant.

The photos could have been on a phone, or in a purse, or in a personal briefcase in that drawer. Whether we're talking about a digital image on a phone, or a Playboy in a personal pendaflex, or a print photograph tucked into a purse, the teacher still brought prohibited material onto campus and then left it in an insecure and unlocked location where it was accessed by students. The kids SHOULD be punished for going through her desk and getting into her personal property, and the student who accessed the phone should probably be prosecuted for distributing her intimate photos without permission, but that doesn't provide her with a free pass for bringing prohibited contraband onto the campus in the first place and then leaving it in a location where students could easily get to it.


Take photos out of the discussion for a moment. My former school had a strict anti-drug policy that prevented us from even taking prescription painkillers into our classroom. If I'd taken a bottle of painkillers into my class, left them in my daybag in the bottom of my desk, and the drugs had been stolen and distributed by the students, I'd have been fired on the spot. Even though the drugs were legal and legitimate for my use, and even though they were concealed within my personal property, my mere possession of that material inside my classroom would have been sufficient grounds to fire me.

This teacher had pornography on her unsecured phone, in her unsecured desk, in an unmonitored classroom full of students. She knowingly brought contraband into her class and failed to secure it. Whether it's porn, or drugs, or weapons is irrelevant. Whether it's on a phone, or in a purse, or in a briefcase is irrelevant.

And, to answer your other question: Would it be different if he had gone into her email? Yes and no. Yes because, in that case, she didn't bring the materials into the classroom. No because she's a teacher, and nearly all teachers in the U.S. have morality clauses in their contracts. Like it or not, once your students see you nude, you're probably going to be jobless anyway because the school administrators will deem you a "distraction to the learning environment". I DON'T agree with it, but that's how it works. So, while she wouldn't be fired for flouting the rules, she'd still be fired at the end of the day.

[SusanCalvin]

31. ^THIS^

[StevieM]

34. Well, if she brought her phone into the classroom and he got into her email through her phone

then in a sense she did bring the materials into the classroom.

I don't see how you can say that she had pornography on the phone. The picture wasn't on the screen of the phone. She said: "He had to hit my apps button and to open up all my apps and then open my gallery."

[adigal]

48. Only a fool would have nude or semi-nude pics on an app and not have a password on it

So, again, I agree that she should have been fired, if for nothing else but being really stupid. Teachers shouldn't be so stupid.

[FLPanhandle]

17. Your post makes sense

I agree.

[LisaL]

20. A semi-nude photo of oneself isn't exactly porn.

[Stuart G]

24. I am a former teacher too..Worked in the worst schools in Chicago..

No student, no matter who, goes into the teacher's desk....none....

Student stole her phone....suspension or bring the police in ..

Shit..went into a private desk, stole a phone and the idiot bosses ... fire the teacher.......

Fire the should board and fire the administrator who made this absolutely stupid decision...
and in many years..nobody went into my desk..and it didn't have a lock...but.........


someone did steal a calendar once that I had on the wall...guess who it was?....
the thief was the other teacher I shared a room with....what an asshole..I told him about it, and he gave it back

[SusanCalvin]

32. True, but assuming no one would mess with an unlocked phone is dumb. nt

[yurbud]

67. administrators are too often bad teachers who gave themselves a promotion by taking a few

night classes.

[adigal]

46. I agree with you 100%. I'm teaching for 25 years, and that was just stupid

Now, if she had a union, which I'm not sure she does, she could have fought this. But without a union, she has no leg to stand on because she was stupid.

I would hope most teachers have more sense than to bring semi-nude pictures to school with them on any devices. It's just not smart and it's also not appropriate. But the student should still be punished.

[AtheistCrusader]

52. With devices connected to the cloud, like OneDrive, or iCloud, the distinction of 'bringing it to

school' is fully meaningless.

This isn't necessarily like she brought a piece of paper with her photo printed on it to school. She brought a piece of paper that can be directed to connect to another piece of paper thousands of miles away and display the contents of THAT piece of paper.

She said the student had to go into apps. Not into the photo stream on the phone. That suggests even one more layer of separation, that the phone could retrieve and display the picture, but not that the picture existed ON the phone.



We're going to have to start being adults about this shit at some point, because the concepts are evolving before our eyes.

[adigal]

56. As an adult, I would never bring anything compromising to my classroom

Where is her responsibility? Yes, the kid was wrong to go into her app (which should have been locked with a password, another stupid thing she forgot to do) but she was irresponsible and dopey to bring the phone with all that info in her classroom and not make sure it was inaccessible to the students. It's not like the kid was outside her bathroom, with the expectation of privacy, taking pictures.

And if I were in that teacher's shoes, I would be embarrassed to show my face at that school, considering the kids all know how I look.

[AtheistCrusader]

58. "It's not like the kid was outside her bathroom, with the expectation of privacy, taking pictures."

So, a thin door is a concrete, principled, absolute expectation of privacy, but her own personal phone/device is not?

She didn't leave that picture as her lock screen background, the kid had to go spelunking to find it.

"And if I were in that teacher's shoes, I would be embarrassed to show my face at that school, considering the kids all know how I look."

That's your opinion, and entirely upon you. I'm no Adonis. Middle aged. Overweight. Not a male swimsuit model. If someone found a way to take a picture of me, or steal a picture of me naked, I'm not going to break down over it. That's on the thief, not me. I didn't choose to make it public.

Your insecurities shouldn't be projected onto other people.

[Old Vet]

12. Let me get this right..........

When the teacher left the room some scumbag runs up to her desk and STEALS her phone and shares photos with class. last I heard that's called theft, Oh boy wish I was her lawyer.

[olddad56]

15. why does her husband need a nude photo of her. Doesn't he know what she looks like nude?

I'll bet the kid thought he had won the lottery.

[ProudToBeBlueInRhody]

38. "why does her husband need a nude photo of her. Doesn't he know what she looks like nude?"

None of our business, and none of the business of this little prick.

[DamnYankeeInHouston]

16. You never never never let your pc or phone be used by unsupervised students.

And, as a teacher, you need to be very careful what you post on line. I'm Facebook friends with hundreds of exstudents. I enjoy keeping up with them, but I keep my personal life well edited. There's messaging and emails for the grown up stuff.

[LisaL]

21. She didn't let the student use her phone. He took it without permission.

[DamnYankeeInHouston]

22. She left it where he could get it. Mine never leaves my pocket.

It was a mistake on her part, but who knows what stresses she was handling in the classroom at the time. Mistakes happen. One teacher in a class is an overwhelming and almost impossible job. I hope she gets her job back if she wants it.

[olddad56]

66. how do you read your texts if it never leaves your pocket?

[DamnYankeeInHouston]

69. Well then it's in my hand, not left where students or parents can steal it which happens a lot.

[JI7]

23. the student who did that is an asshole

[narnian60]

27. Totally.

Retired now, but the only thing students stole from me was candy, and THAT pissed me off.

[SusanCalvin]

33. Oh, absolutely. nt

[adigal]

50. Absolutely, but that doesn't mean the teacher wasn't irresponsible leaving her phone unattended

with semi-nude pics on it, and no password on the app. Come on, we are always talking about personal responsibility, she was careless and stupid to do this. I wouldn't want someone so dopey to teach my kids. (Kind of kidding, but kind of serious, too. She has poor judgment.)

[unblock]

28. why are people so distracted by the fact that a student stole it?

let's say the teacher brought in illegal drugs for personal use and kept them in a locked safe.

let's say the student broke into the safe and stole the drugs. hell, just to make the student's actions worse, let's say he used criminal tools and explosives.

bad, bad student! yes, the student deserves to be punished, if not criminally prosecuted.




but this has absolutely nothing to do with the treatment of the teacher. in this example, the school would have every right to fire the teacher for bringing drugs onto school grounds even if they only became aware of it by the criminal acts of a student.

where there's room for debate is whether a firing is appropriate for first-time offense of bringing in a "semi-nude" photo, given that most kids have easy access to such things anyway.

but how the school found out about it isn't relevant.

[StevieM]

35. But the phone was not an illegal item, like drugs. And the pictures were not on the screen

of the phone.

According to the teacher: "He had to hit my apps button and to open up all my apps and then open my gallery."

[unblock]

44. i suppose that's a fair point for debate.

my point was simply that the criminality of the student's actions were not relevant.

how difficult the teacher made it to access the pic *is* relevant, so it's relevant that the student had to do a bit of hunting for it. then again, it sounds like the pic wasn't particularly well-hidden.

that said, given that locking the device was an easy option, i think that would certainly be a problem for the teacher.

[adigal]

51. Upthread, another teacher said that in her school, certain legal Rx drugs aren't allowed either

Kind of like don't bring in naked pictures, whether on your phone, or in a bag, etc.

So if this teacher brought in legal Adderall, for example, and a kid went in her purse and took it, she would be fired. Not prosecuted by the law, but fired.

These Rx drugs aren't illegal either, but they are contraband in a school setting, just like nude pics.

[tularetom]

30. If i were going to assess blame for how this turned out

Teacher - 10% for leaving her unlocked phone on her desk when she left the room.

Kid - 20% for taking someone's personal property without their permission.

School district - 70% for extreme and unnecessary overreaction to the incident.

If she left the room in a hurry due to a bathroom emergency or some other unanticipated reason, I'd even cut her some slack on the 10%.

[ProudToBeBlueInRhody]

37. Sue the little bastard thief. n/m

[snort]

39. Meanwhile,

junior and his peers can get online and be looking at the gnarliest porn there ever was just about any time they want.

[mackerel]

41. Dumb move on teachers part but still her union

ought to back her up.

[StevieM]

42. In South Carolina I am guessing that the teachers' unions aren't too strong.

And the teacher didn't have the picture on the screen of her phone.

She said: "He had to hit my apps button and to open up all my apps and then open my gallery."

[mackerel]

43. A 13 y.o. can do that in 3 minutes. First rule of teaching

in public schools or any school for that matter, never bring anything personal to work. Not even a family pic. Kids are very manipulative.

[raccoon]

45. You are so right, SC is a "right to work" state, and unions are as rare as a black swan.

This is just the usual misogynistic BS coming out of a red state.

[Oneironaut]

68. Do not keep naked pictures of yourself on your phone.

Not only are you at risk for things like this, but you're at the mercy of Apple keeping your privacy. It blows my mind that people still do this despite bad outcomes time after time.

[graegoyle]

70. Do not keep naked pictures of yourself on your phone.

Send them to me.

[Kalidurga]

77. This is ridiculous

I found out the hard way it's nearly impossible to keep kids from seeing naked adults if they want to. Most kids these days have phones with internet access nuff said.

[christx30]

80. What should happen in this case:

The school begs the teacher to come back. Brutally punishes the kid for theft to the fullest extent of the law. There will always be whispers. Is the picture still floating around? Punish anyone that is caught sharing it. Take a couple of diplomas if you have to.