Forsyth 7th-grader suspended for sexting nude photo of self

By Christopher Quinn

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Forsyth County schools suspended a seventh-grade girl for 10 days last Tuesday after she sent a nude photo of herself to male students via cellphone.

The Liberty Middle School student sent the graphic image to three boys at three different schools.

She told a friend about it, and the friend told a school counselor, said Jennifer Caracciolo, spokeswoman for the schools. When the suspended student returns, she will face a tribunal that could hand down other punishment such as expulsion or being sent to an alternative school.

"We have been working on educating parents on issues like this the past two years, and we think that is why it ended up being reported," Caracciolo said.

Sending sexual messages or pictures via cellphones has become an issue that teachers are aware of, because of their contact with students, but many parents do not know everything their children are learning to do with multimedia cellphones. One in five teens admits to "sexting" -- sending sexually explicit texts or nude or semi-nude photographs via cellphone, according to a survey of teens by the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy.

As cases have hit the news, school systems and advocacy groups have begun programs to address it.

Caracciolo said that after the schools learned of the girl's action, school officers working with a deputy got her cellphone and found the photo. One of the boys she sent it to had deleted it from his phone. None of the boys had forwarded the photo, Caracciolo said, so they were not punished.

In some cases that have gained national attention, those who received illicit messages or photos had forwarded them to friends, who had also forwarded them, spreading the content to hundreds.

A deputy had talked to students at Liberty Middle School earlier this year about sexting, Caracciolo said, and there had also been a meeting for parents.