Bridgewater-Raritan students told to delete nude selfies

• The B-R letter comes two weeks after Bernards school officials sent a similar letter to parents about students distributing nude selfies.

BRIDGEWATER – Students in the Bridgewater-Raritan regional school district have until Thursday to delete nude photos of classmates from their cell phones and social media pages or else face possible legal consequences.

In a letter to parents on Tuesday, Interim Superintendent of Schools Cheryl Dyer said she has been in contact with Bridgewater Police Chief Manuel Caravela and Raritan Borough Police Chief Kenneth McCormick after she received reports that some students have taken nude pictures of themselves and shared them electronically.

Law enforcement authorities consider these pictures child pornography and say access to technology has led to a proliferation of young people creating and sharing such images.

Dyer's letter comes two weeks after Bernards school superintendent Nick Markarian sent a similar letter to parents about students distributing nude selfies.

Like Markarian, Dyer said has instructed principals to impose a minimum five-day suspension on any student who possesses the sexual or images creates or distributes the images after Wednesday. Students also face the possibility of losing the right to participate in end-of-school activities such as trips, prom and possibly graduation ceremonies, Dyer said.

After reviewing the situation with the Somerset County Prosecutor's Office, the school district and the police departments will work together with the students and their families to address the situation without filing criminal charges, Dyer said.

Dyer asked parents to talk with their children about the ramifications of creating and distributing inappropriate images.

Child safety expert Bob Lotter, the founder and California-based eAgency Mobile Security, also emphasized that parents should take a pro-active role in warning their children about the dangers of sexting.

Lotter said parents "should learn who the people are in your children's life."

"There are a lot of predatory individuals out there," he said.

For example, he said, there was an adult man posing as a young student who asked students to send selfies.

He also said that parents should tell their children they will "automatically" have forgiveness if they come forward with inappropriate content.

"Tell them you are not going to take their cell phone away," he said.

Parents need to be especially vigilant with their children who are less than 15 years old, he said.

"Once they're 15, a light seems to come on,'' Lotter said. "It's not an intelligence issue. It's a maturity issue."

The proliferation of sexual images has led to "sextortion," Lotter said, in which explicit photos are ransomed for money or sex.

Dyer said the images have "created a host of unfortunate consequences for everyone involved. The educational environment has been disrupted."

"The school district will be counseling students who have been in the situation, Dyer said. "Our goal is that this sort of behavior never occurs in our school district," she said.

Staff Writer Mike Deak: 908-243-6607; mdeak@mycentraljersey.com