Teacher's Aide Nude Photo Controversy: David Loftus

As in the far more tragic case of Jessica Logan, the girl who committed suicide after her ex-boyfriend circulated a nude photo of her throughout their school (and about which we commented here on Dec. 10), there was a certain small amount of poor judgment exercised by the victim here in using technology to make herself more vulnerable. But this woman is even more of an innocent victim because she didn’t herself send the photo to anyone. A stranger made unauthorized use of her cellular phone after she reportedly left it unattended at a bar, and emailed the photo to the contacts on her phone, from where it spread throughout the school where she worked. People who have denounced her judgment certainly regard anything they say or store on their own mobile phones as personal and private property, I should think.

It would be extremely difficult for this woman to face the students in her job after many of them had seen her naked photo, I would imagine. She might well have wished to look for a job elsewhere. On the other hand, it is craven of the school district to ask her to resign because “she has lost her credibility with the students.” This is as stupid and misdirected as the rationale that gay men cannot be effective soldiers because some of their comrades would be uncomfortable and combat unit effectiveness thereby impaired, which is policy dictated by the most immature, rather than making them join the rest of us grownups. In effect, this woman was victimized by gossip, and the school district has legitimized this dainty and anonymous form of bullying by refusing to take a stand against it and rooting it out (as well as perpetuating the archaic but still all-too-prevalent notion that there is something shameful about the naked human body, or taking pride in one’s own). I suspect the district’s real reason for taking this classically cowardly action is to avoid offending any fastidious and prudish parents of students in the district -- another instance of conducting policy under the dictatorship of society’s weakest links.

Here’s what the district should do, if it has any interest in doing the honorable and ethical thing. First, confirm publicly that she has broken no law or district regulation. Second, firmly denounce every unnamed and unknown person who circulated the photo without permission or authorization by its owner and subject (and, if possible, try to track down those persons and administer a suitable reprimand and/or punishment). Third, allow the employee time off, with pay, to look for another job, if she wishes. And in the unlikely event that she wants to continue in her present position, stand by her one hundred percent. Students come and go; good employees, especially good teachers (assuming this woman is or would make one) are harder to come by.