By Kai-Lou Yue
News Editor
Q: How did administration find out about the pictures?
A: A student came to see Mr. Ware and informed him that one to three boys had some pictures of female students.
Q: What steps did administration take after they were told about the pictures?
A: We had a meeting with my administrative team, and we also invited School Resource Officer Jeff Pavao to come in, and that’s when the investigation started. We started to formulate our plan for how we were going to move forward.
Q: How were the photos handled?
A: Officer Pavao was the one that looked at the pictures and then any of the things that could be printed out, he took, and made sure that everything was redacted in regards to us seeing faces of the photos and so forth. And there was only a small number of photos at that time, so it was all really handled through our school resource officer
Q: What is administration doing to prevent this from happening in the future?
A: We’ll continue with education about this […] There’s a couple different issues that came out of the Youth Risk Behavior survey that we want to talk about, and I won’t divulge those yet, but one of those things would be the topic of sexting. And so, somehow a meeting to educate parents about a variety of topics that are no different than any other high school. And, I just had a meeting last week with many of the principals from the Dual County League and we’re all dealing with the same situation, that students, many many students feel that this is just a way of life, and so we need to educate folks because attached to this way of life is a felony offense, allegedly, passing pornographic pictures. Y’know, it’s just something that you need to educate people on. Yesterday I did some research on […] a couple different situations that involved sexting, so I’m going to include that in my messages that I send out to parents, the timing of that I don’t know yet […] It’s really about education. We’ll do our opening day sessions with all of our students, but I would like to get something to happen down at the 8th grade level. Talk to parents before they get here; I think that would be worthwhile and I think parents would be interested in that.
Q: Do you think this event will hurt the school’s image?
A: It depends how the media spins it. Oftentimes you put something out there, and as the principal of Westford Academy, […] I would never want to see Westford Academy dragged through the mud, especially when we do so many great things around here. So many great things, yet one thing can be a blemish. I don’t want us to focus on the blemish, I want us to focus on […] all the great things that you students do around here. Why should we focus on something that is really not just focused on Westford Academy? It’s a global issue, and it’s a Massachusetts issue, at all kinds of high schools. As a principal, I’m always worried about our reputation, but, for me, educating students is the bottom line here, and that’s what I want this to be about […] Some slanderous comments will be out there. They were already made in regards to how we’ve dealt with this situation. My job is to certainly protect the reputation of Westford Academy, but this is bigger than that, and I want to educate students and I want to educate parents.
Q: Has the school taken steps to prevent this from going out to media outlets in the area?
A: No. We’ve done nothing. The only thing we’ve done is asked the [Ghostwriter] to hold off on the three articles that were [published], and quite frankly, I’m surprised that somebody didn’t already pick up on those three [articles]. I know they haven’t contacted the superintendent. Once we post everything there will be a few questions, and we’ll face those questions head on.
Q: How would you handle this if it happened in the future?
A: In the same way. I think that Officer Pavao did a great job. He’s been thorough, he’s been professional, and I think we’ve handled it in a very confidential and professional manner. We’re supposed to be here working with students to educate students, and part of that whole process is bigger than books and tests and labs, and we’re supposed to work with you about the social and emotional things. But, we don’t want to be the social media police. That’s part of a parent problem and job. I don’t want to blur those lines of making us the media police around here. I don’t want my deans looking at anybody’s phones. It’s not their job, and quite frankly, it’s your piece of technology. I don’t want us to infringe upon your rights, and that puts my deans in a situation if they do that. And I’ve told them not to do that, so that’s why when we asked the police to do this, it was a police matter, because the exchange of those kinds of pictures is a potential felony offense. I don’t want my deans looking at those pictures if they’re out there. I don’t want to be looking at those pictures. So I think we’ve dealt with it pretty nicely.
Q: Are you worried that since the students aren’t being charged, other students will think that this is okay?
A: No, because I think that the message that we put out together as a Ghostwriter/ school principal will [say that] further situations that involve this kind of behavior would necessitate most likely a felony charge. […] Parents, I’m sure, are dealing with it at home because it’s embarrassing. The next group of students who do this, and we find out about it, […] I can’t tell the Assistant District Attorney’s office what to do, but I know what I’ll do as a school. I will then use my disciplinary actions to do something in school, which then is a blemish on your record. Maybe not outside of school, but inside of school.
Q: What was your reaction to this when you found out as an administrator?
A: As an administrator, I was distraught. I guess after I started reading the comments that were made on the [Ghostwriter articles], a lot of students saying this is just a way of life and what we do today, I just don’t know if students understand the impact that this can have on their lives, and that concerns me. And I know that there’s a maturation piece, but I don’t want students to think this is just okay behavior.
Q: What was your reaction as a parent?
A: As a parent I had a pit in my stomach. I have three children, and I could only imagine being one of those parents being called up to the police station, and how they might have felt. I’ve dealt with a lot of issues here over 22 years, and this one, as a parent, would be really heart-wrenching. Seeing a picture of my daughter sent out in an inappropriate pose, online, with all the different people who are out there who make bad decisions in life, hurting people, scaring the heck out of me.
Q: What exactly happened to the students who were in that situation?
A: Parents and student interviews, and the end result is that pictures were removed from phones which in turn most likely got rid of some of the applications that were on those phones because the phones were cleaned, so they incurred some cost to purchase those apps again. But, the cost of that versus the cost of having a felony offense is marginal. So, having the conversation at the police department was one piece as a deterrent, the second piece was having your phone cleared, the third piece was dealing with home ramifications, and at that point, that’s about as far as it’s gone. […] I don’t have any plans to then bring these parents back again and hit them again with another punishment at this point. However, moving forward, I would do that. Next level, if this goes further, and I’m not so naive to think that it won’t, it will be two tier. It will be most likely me going up to the police station and being there while the conversation is taking place, or a conversation up there and a conversation here.
Q: There has been some talk about students taking pictures of other students without them knowing, like at lockers. Do you think there’s a difference between pictures being sent between two consenting individuals, and someone taking pictures of others without their consent?
A: To a certain level. Any kind of picture where a student is taking a quick snapshot of anyone around here is absolutely inappropriate. The other student didn’t know about it. If I find out about that, it will be a suspendible offense. Two, between two consenting individuals, it’s against the law. So, I’m a law abiding citizen, so I find a problem with it. I think that those two individuals, if they have some kind of relationship, that relationship may break down at some point, and now all of a sudden A and B have pictures of each other, and that’s not a good thing. Especially at the adolescent age. […] I don’t think it’s necessary. I just don’t think there’s a need. I don’t find any value in that. If you love somebody, you have that picture in your mind of that person. It doesn’t need to be sent out and put in a folder on your phone. I find that a little bit odd.
