Alleged Sexting Incident Under Investigation In Indiana Co. School District
BLAIRSVILLE (KDKA) -- A sexting case is under investigation in an Indiana County school district, and it's sparking controversy among some parents.
Some parents in the Blairsville-Saltsburg School District say they want the superintendent there to resign her position over the alleged incident they claim she did nothing about.
"When the incident was discovered and when word had gotten around about it, there was not any proper protocol followed," said one parent who did not want to be identified.
That's the feeling several parents have in the school district, many of whom contacted KDKA-TV about the alleged sexting incident reportedly involving the use of iPads issued by the school district.
The parent KDKA's Brenda Waters spoke with wanted to remain anonymous. She told KDKA she feared retaliation by the district.
"The incident does involve graphic and explicit pictures of the subject and the images were seen or sent to other people, including cell phones and other technology within the school," the parent said.
The parent says when this was discovered administrators did nothing about it.
KDKA's Brenda Waters called the superintendent, Dr. Tammy Whitfield, about the alleged incident. She spoke to assistant superintendent Jeffrey Soles who confirmed a sexting incident did happen last December.
He did not say who was involved. He did tell KDKA that the district is following proper procedure and that he could say nothing more.
Some parents tried to address the issue at Tuesday night's school board meeting.
"However, when it was brought up, it was shot down immediately," the parent said.
As for the superintendent, some think she needs to step down.
"I think as a result of all this, the superintendent does need to be reprimanded, including stepping down from her position if this alleged incident did take place, and like we said, we do have very reliable sources that it did," the parent who didn't want to be identified said.
A call to Pennsylvania State Police in Indiana County was not returned.
UPDATE (Jan. 22, 2015) --
The Blairsville-Saltsburg School District issued a statement in response to the allegations.
It says: "The Blairsville-Saltsburg School District takes all allegations of sexting seriously, and we will continue to adhere to proper protocols for handling incidents involving technologies, and will continue to work cooperatively with the Pennsylvania State Police to ensure these issues are dealt with."
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