Tuesday, April 14, 2015

Sachetta: We will work with police to resolve JHS child porn issue

(From Joplin High School Principal Kerry Sachetta)

Parents, it has been reported that several JHS students were arrested today for an incident involving Drop Box, a file sharing application, and the sharing of explicit photos of students.

 It is true that there was an incident reported to JHS administration by a student earlier today regarding inappropriate photos being shared on Drop Box. However, NO students have been arrested.

 As soon as administration was notified, the Drop Box application web address was blocked on our network and an investigation began. The Joplin Police Department was called and several students have been questioned. 

The investigation is ongoing and we are cooperating fully with police. It is early in the investigation, and parents whose students are determined to be involved have or will be contacted. 

We are bound by student confidentiality requirements, and we take the safety and privacy of our students very seriously. We will continue to work closely with our partners in the police department, our parents, and our students to resolve this issue. 

If parents have questions or concerns, they should call me directly tomorrow at 625-5230.

Dr. Kerry Sachetta

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

A possibly important distinction. The original story on Turner Report reads:

"The Joplin Police Department began questioning suspects and reportedly, those who were 18 or older were arrested for child pornography."

Even if the scandal was JHS-centric, it's not necessarily the case that some of the 18+ were not students at this point. It sounds kind of like they're trying to discredit the story by latching onto one aspect they can deny. They are still more concerned with image control than anything. And we know how that goes....

Anonymous said...

That's quite a source you've got.

Anonymous said...

Very classy response Dr. Sachetta. You always have your head on straight. Props to you! ����

Anonymous said...

If an eighteen year old has nude photos of underage people in their possession, and a cell phone qualifies as possession, then they are going to be charged. That is the long and the short of it. Welcome to the the wonderful world of sexual offenders and welcome to the sexual predator list.

Anonymous said...

Why did it take an outside source to release this information instead of the school directly coming out? What are you trying to hide at this point?

Anonymous said...

I just like how Our Super was seeking TV cameras last night with the Gov in town for the opening of a new building. Forget the kids look what I built a new performing arts center. Dr Sachetta stepped up to address a very difficult situation while our Super hid. :(

Anonymous said...

I'm not a defender, nor persecuting the school district. This goes on anywhere there are teenagers. Every school district has had this situation, but usually not where it is shared. The students who set up the file sharing should face the consequences. Technology allows the old, "you show me yours, I'll show you mine" thing to be done without actually facing the other person. Not every young person should be prosecuted.

Anonymous said...

They probably were told not to because the police would have liked to have been able to identify the possibility of other picture files and persons involved...but then...ya know...nosiness and dip shit here decided to post inaccurate information.

Anonymous said...

What an intelligent reply. I'd like to know how his information was inaccurate? Was there not a scandal that erupted at the school? Was there not reports of students being arrested? And I emphasize reported, also known as reportedly. And if it wasn't for an investigative reporter breaking this news story and uncovering hidden facts, the police and the school board would most likely sweep this under the rug and you wouldn't have anything to make brilliant retorts about.

Anonymous said...

I agree with all that has been blogged here ... 'Reportedly' is totally accurate. Every high school parent I've talked to in the past 24 hours has 'reported' that the students were led to believe that kids were being hauled off in cuffs. It may have been an intimidation tactic at the time ... and, it may have been a good one, but, it certainly deems a 'reportedly'. Nothing blogged here has 'blamed' anyone but a decline in culture ... this too is accurate. I appreciated both Randy's willingness to break the story -- and -- Dr. Sachetta's statement late in the day. It may well have been made (in part) to ratchet the story down. Regardless, it showed a fair amount of transparency. For the record ... None of the parents I've spoken with feel it would be in any way fair to allow the girls who willingly fueled this 'crime spree' to go unpunished as 'victims'. The day and age where 15 year old girls don't understand exactly what they're doing in this kind of scandal is long --- LONG gone!