Nude pics get H.S. cheerleader expelled!

From: http://www.silive.com/
 
Racy photos of Sea student e-mailed, and she's expelled

Cheerleader sent them to a St. Peter's pupil and it started a chain-reaction
Wednesday, March 28, 2007
By DOUG AUER, JAMIE LEE and JOHN ANNESE
STATEN ISLAND ADVANCE

 
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- A sophomore at St. Joseph by-the-Sea High School has been expelled after pictures of her nude, and semi-nude in school attire, surfaced last week.

The girl, a 16-year-old junior varsity cheerleading captain at the Huguenot school, took about 60 photographs of herself and e-mailed them to a student at St. Peter's Boys' High School in New Brighton, the sources said.
 
It seems that the boy, a sophomore member of St. Peter's junior varsity basketball team, forwarded the photos to his friends, who did the same. There were reports that some of the photos made their way onto the online Web community, MySpace.com.

 
The Advance is withholding the names of both the boy and the girl.

Coaches at Sea discovered the photos' existence after they overheard talk among the players. They told school officials, who sources said expelled the girl by Friday, the day before an Archdiocesan cheering competition at Fordham University in the Bronx that Sea won.

 
Following the event, a Sea coach acknowledged the matter but declined further comment.
 
Some of the photos reportedly featured the girl wearing clothing with Sea's insignia, which may have sealed her expulsion: Sources said the Sea student handbook specifies dire consequences for students who damage the school's reputation.

 
It's not known whether the boy faces any school sanctions or criminal charges.
 
When reached by phone Saturday, John Fodera, St. Peter's principal, said he had heard of the incident but that he had no information concerning a St. Peter's connection. Through a secretary, the Sea principal, Monsignor Joseph Ansaldi, declined to accept a phone call from the Advance.

 
At the girl's Pleasant Plains home Monday, a woman who answered the door said politely, "I have no comment," before telling a reporter, "Don't come back."

Reached over the phone last night, the same woman again declined comment.
At dismissal Monday afternoon, several Sea students indicated they had heard about the incident but refused to talk about it or provide any details.
 
Following her expulsion from Sea, the young woman was reportedly denied enrollment at Moore Catholic High School, Graniteville, and Francis School, Great Kills. She was finally admitted into Tottenville High School, sources said.

 
The incident serves as a stark reminder that the Internet, abetted by the proliferation of photo cell phones, is increasingly turning what once were often just errors in judgment into titillating events for public consumption.

"It's worse than a paper trail. These things do tend to follow you," said Dr. Katie Cumiskey, a professor of psychology and women's studies at the College of Staten Island. "Once you put it out there, it's hard to rein it back in."

 
Internet culture blurs the boundaries between public and private, while at the same time giving a false sense of anonymity, she said, and "anonymity breeds risk-taking."

And in situations like the cheerleader's, females are far more likely to suffer punishment and public shame.

 
"Women, and young women especially, have to pay a bigger price than men do," Dr. Cumiskey said. "I'm sure there's boys' and men's body parts out there, as much as [there is] for young women."

Police sources said the Sea incident hasn't yet sparked any criminal investigation.

Nevertheless, teens' attitudes toward the Internet and mobile phone technology can also lead to criminal offenses such as identity theft, or make them possible targets for predators, said Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly, interviewed after an Island speaking engagement yesterday afternoon.

 
"[Teens] don't understand it. It's up to parents to supervise and emphasize things like this," Kelly said.

Youth expert Dr. James Garbarino, speaking to a reporter last night following an educational seminar at Moore Catholic, was quick to note that the young woman might have succumbed to the allure of celebrity and publicity, not realizing how little control she would have over the photos' dissemination once they entered the public domain.

"It doesn't register that the whole world will now see this," Dr. Garbarino said of the woman's risqué Internet e-mail.

 
He didn't agree with Sea's decision to expel the sophomore.

"I'm not sure this is the right response. They all should've pulled together in this," said Garbarino. "Now she has the rejection by the school plus the embarrassment of the incident. This is a stigma that could follow her around."