Nov. 20--It's the kind of thing that leaves parents gap-jawed and students either smirking or chagrined. Authorities in Canon City, Colo., recently said at least 100 students at Canon City High School had been implicated in a sexting scandal. Some 300 to 400 nude photographs were in circulation. Some of the students involved were believed to be eighth-graders from a local middle school.
Students created a point system -- they gained points by adding the most desirable photos to their collections. Many hid the images behind so-called vault apps, which are smartphone icons that look innocent but hide content you wouldn't want your mother to find.
Law enforcement authorities have been brought in to investigate, but the local prosecutor has signaled he has no interest in arresting hundreds of children. He said he would "use discretion" if he decided to file charges.
Think Canon City (population 16,000) is an exception? Only in the scope of how many students were involved.
Schools, parents and lawmakers around the country have been struggling for a few years now with how to deal with cases of teenagers taking and exchanging revealing photos through email and text. The adults want the students to be dissuaded from sexting. They also don't want to brand the students as criminals.
Under Illinois law, minors who distribute explicit pictures of other minors face supervision under juvenile court adjudication and can be ordered to attend mandatory counseling or perform community service. Illinois lawmakers decided in 2010 to move away from harsher penalties, including the possibility of being charged with a felony offense and required to register as a sex offender.
So it's still illegal, though the consequences are milder. Still, just warning kids not to do this because it is illegal isn't a particularly effective tactic.
We heard some good advice the other day from Maggie Meier, a theology teacher at Trinity High School in River Forest who visited the Tribune Editorial Board with a group of students.
"Expecting blind obedience to authority doesn't work," Meier said. "We need to explain why the law exists, why it is illegal. We need to explain that we're trying to protect you, not trying to ruin your life. If we don't give them a reason, there's going to be a large percentage of kids who are going to push back, saying the adults just don't want us to have fun."
Yes, kids like to rebel. They like to take chances. They think they're invincible. That may explain why sexting has become so common, despite the risk.
A revealing photograph that gets widely distributed online is a devastating and humiliating violation of privacy. It can have repercussions for years, particularly as more colleges and employers use online tools to learn about applicants. And when a student presses another student to sext, it's exploitative. It's bullying. It's disrespectful. It's dangerous.
Parents are used to having The Talk with their teens. But the particulars are changing. Here's one more thing to add to the discussion.
