Hello, I was wondering what course of action should happen if the school administration found sexting materials (very explicit) between a student (receiver) and a teacher (perpetrator). 1. Should the school take action on its own and seek to discipline the teacher (cease and desist communication between said teacher and said student, referral to psychologist to address personal issues, etc...) 2. should they immediately call the authorities and hand her over and let them deal with it. The piece I am writing requires the school authorities NOT to contact the police. Will this work? Thanks
Whether the authorities get involved would probably depend on whether the student was over the age of consent in the area or not. Whether the pictures were asked for by the receiver is another factor. I don't think sending explicit photos to someone of legal age is a crime, but it might vary based on jurisdiction. Should the school find out about this, the only logical course of action I see is termination. Even if the student is legally an adult, sending explicit photos is unethical, and the sheer public outrage possible if word got out would likely be enough for a school district decide to cut its losses even if it wasn't unethical.
Principals, teachers, and other school personnel are all mandatory reporters for child maltreatment. Finding sexting materials between a teacher and a student under 18 would be something that would legally require a report. That doesn't mean that all staff follows the law, but I'm sure administrators would be aware of it. Each state has its own laws on the punishment for not reporting, but it can be a felony with a jail term of 30 days - 5 years. It's not a minor issue, so IMO the administrators would either report it or they would actively talk to the teacher and try to cover it up. If the school was to report what they found, the appropriate party would probably be to a child abuse hotline and not the police. Child Protective Services could then involve the police depending on what the reporter saw. If the sexting material included images of sex between the two of them or or images of the teacher nude sent to the student, I would suspect that the police would be involved. If the sexting material was just images of the student nude sent to the teacher, I'm not sure if they would try to involve the police right away.
@Ben414 is correct, those teachers would be legally required, under threat of jail-time, to report the texts to the police.
I think in order to adequately answer this question, we need to know where this story is set and how old the student is.
Thank you all for you help with this. The student is 17, the teacher is 28. The school counselor found the pictures of the teacher on the student's phone. School Counselor is a vigilante killer who only killed molesters. He informed the principal of his finding but doesn't want her arrested/charged/prosecuted. he wanted the teacher to himself. I thought about having the school authority alert law enforcement, but if that happened she would be publicized and she will be out of his reach then. I am open to suggestions. Thanks.
Story takes place in the office of the counselor. The student came in for counselling when his phone chimed. when he tried to pick up the phone from the table, he knocks it down and toward the counselor. The counselor picks up the phone and glanced at the picture with the text that came with it. The counselor then continued to scroll. That was how he found the other pictures. He then seizes the phone and calls in the principal.
With your scenario, similar to Dexter, he would hide the evidence from the police. In fact, he would more than likely assist in covering it up (damaging the phone, stealing the phone, etc.). Maybe a hint to the teacher to let her know that he's aware of it and to have her be more careful. Maybe he observes her for a while after revealing he knows about her and the student. IMO just sexting and some photos doesn't really warrant a death penalty. Especially from a 17/28, since 9 years isn't that huge of a difference. I'm 24 and I've dated a women who was 39 for a short time, though she was still quite attractive. I also thought she was about 28-32 and then just didn't care afterwards since I liked her as a person.
With the way Colorado defines minor, the teacher texting explicit photos to the student qualifies as promoting obscene material to a minor, which is a class 6 felony. The principal would likely involve the police. The solution to this is simple: the counselor doesn't notify the principal