Nude Instagram Student Photo Investigation Grows Across NC, No Reports in CHCCS

The investigation into the posting of nude student photos on Instagram has spread to nine counties, including Durham, Chatham, and Wake, nine in total are being examined. Jeff Nash, of Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools, said Wednesday that school officials have not received reports of similar activity with in the district.

“This Instagram story has spread quite a bit, and we [CHCCS] are very fortunate not to be a part of it. That is not to say that other counties can’t be added to the story later,” Nash said.

The investigation began in Wake County after nude photos of students believed to attend area high schools appeared on the social media site earlier this month, WRAL reported.

The state Bureau of Investigation is currently handling the matter, working with school leaders in Pitt, Johnston, Edgecombe, Craven, Randolph and Surry counties, where reports of nude photos have surfaced as well.

Nash said if CHCCS school resource officers become aware of illegal or dangerous student behavior displayed via social media, they will notify authorities, but that is about all that can be done.

“Social media is a huge animal, and it is beyond our capacity as a school district to monitor every student account and each type of media that they use.”When inclement weather moved into our area recently, Nash said a student created a fake Twitter account masquerading as the district’s handle and used it to tweet out false information.

“We don’t look at social media as a bad thing. It is just sometimes how it is used,” he said. “Unfortunately there are stories about it being misused, but there are a lot of good stories about it, too. We do rely on it to get information out to parents very quickly, in addition to students and community leaders as well.”

Nash said the district decided to use only the networking websites Facebook and Twitter to disseminate its information by way of social media.

Nude Instagram Student Photo Investigation Grows Across NC, No Reports in CHCCS

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