High school students in the US state of New Hampshire risked disciplinary action for allegedly taking inappropriate photos of a classmate, turning them into "trading cards" and assigning "notes" to the images.
Bedford High School Principal Bob Jozokos said in an email to parents last week that a group of ninth- and tenth-graders at the school took photos of 11th- and 12th-grade girls without their knowledge and distributed the images without their permission.
In an email sent by a parent to the New Hampshire Union Leader, Jozokos called the behavior "regrettable" and warned that he would contact the parents of the students involved and warn them that their children could possibly be suspended.
"This is absolutely inappropriate behavior. I want it to be known that I take this sexual harassment of young children very seriously and that there is no place for it in our society."
35 STUDENTS SUSPECTED
Students (mostly male) who participated in the disturbing behavior created both physical and digital cards featuring the breasts, buttocks and names of upperclassmen girls, NBC10 Boston reported.
The harassing students would print pictures of the girls and tape them onto the Pokémon cards.
"They were trying to rate them, like, 'Rate them from 0 to 10 and only rate them as 'bad' or 'not bad,'" one student told NBC10 Boston.
THEY DON'T WANT TO GO TO SCHOOL
The female students were largely unaware of this incident, the student said, sharing that her friend on one of the cards was very angry and embarrassed.
"We're thinking maybe we can move her somewhere else because if she's not safe at school, where is she supposed to be safe?" one parent said, adding that her daughter no longer wants to go to school.
School administrators have reportedly interviewed 35 students about the incident, and a petition has called for their permanent expulsion rather than suspension. As of Wednesday, more than 4,300 signatures had been collected with a goal of 5,000 signatures.
Harassment in high school: They took and shared inappropriate photos of them!
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