A South Carolina teacher has been forced to resign after a student broke into her cell phone and leaked nude photos she took for her husband for Valentine’s Day.
On Feb. 18, Leigh Anne Arthur, who taught mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, and computer programming at Union County High School in Union, S.C. had left her cell phone on her desk during a passing period, which she, as a teacher, was required to supervise in the hallway.
It was during this passing period that a student accessed her phone, opened her photos, and found the picture. The student took a picture of Mrs. Arthur’s photo and proceeded to distribute the sexually-explicit image via text message and social media.
Moreover, according to Mrs. Arthur, the student who stole the photo told her that her “day of reckoning is coming.”
The following Monday, Feb. 22, the director of the Union County Career and Technology Center, where Mrs. Arthur taught, informed Union County School District interim superintendent Dr. David Eubanks of the incident. The next day, Dr. Eubanks met with Mrs. Arthur and “[confronted her] with the information,” then proceeded to tell her that she could either resign or face “due process procedures.”
Mrs. Arthur tendered her resignation the next day.
Mrs. Arthur told WYFF4 that the student had to have made quite an effort to find the picture.
“He had to hit my apps button and to open up all my apps and then open my gallery.”
While sense would dictate that the student would face disciplinary action for stealing their teacher’s cell phone and leaking a private photo to other students by way of text message and social media, it appears Dr. Eubanks believes Mrs. Arthur is to blame for the incident. From Mic:
“… Union County School District’s interim superintendent, David Eubanks, appears to have blamed the incident on Arthur, arguing that it was her fault for leaving her phone unlocked on her desk. He said he didn’t know whether the student who stole the phone in the first place would be punished at all.
‘I think we have a right to privacy, but when we take inappropriate information or pictures, we had best make sure it remains private,’ Eubanks told the State.”
Dr. Eubanks was a little more critical of Mrs. Arthur when speaking to the New York Times, claiming that Mrs. Arthur has allowed her students to use her cell phone in the past.
“‘It became a regular piece of equipment that they used in the classroom,’ Dr. Eubanks said. ‘Knowing that, why did she put that photograph on her cellphone?'”
Mrs. Arthur contests Dr. Eubanks’ claim that she allows her students to use her cell phone.
Mrs. Arthur has stated that the school district has not disciplined the student in any way. Dr. Eubanks has said that “the extent of the punishment of the student will be determined by the findings of law enforcement.”
In the wake of the incident, hundreds of students have mobilized and started a petition to have Mrs. Arthur reinstated. In total, the petition has over 11,000 signatures as of March 4 at 9:40 am CST. Despite the support for Mrs. Arthur, Dr. Eubanks is standing firm, referring to the petition as “insignificant.”
Speaking to BuzzFeed News, Mrs. Arthur has acknowledged she is fighting the district’s position on the issue, but laments that turning in her resignation “pretty much terminated any chance [she] had to fight it.”
“‘I know I haven’t broken any laws,’ Arthur told BuzzFeed News. ‘I stand by what I did. We all have inappropriate images on our phone. It’s OK to be involved in a passionate relationship with your husband.’
‘I have to stand up for myself,’ she said. ‘If I were just to forget about all this I would feel like a piece of dirt because I would allow the district office to roll all over me.'”
At the end of the day, a student seized his teacher’s cell phone, scanned it for something incriminating or embarrassing, found sexually-explicit photography a woman took for her husband, made crude copies of said photography, told his teacher that her “day of reckoning is coming,” then sent those photos to other students via text message and social media. An interim superintendent gave this teacher an ultimatum of resignation or “due process procedures,” effectively forcing the teacher to either voluntarily quit her position or go through a procedural process that would possibly have resulted in tenure revocation and termination. Student protest has been called “insignificant” by the aforementioned interim superintendent and the school district has effectively given the student who catalyzed this whole fiasco a pass, at least on their end.
Sure, Mrs. Arthur probably should have been more aware of the content on her phone or pocketed it for passing period, but when does a lapse in judgement on the victim’s part justify the flagrant and malicious actions of the person who victimized her?
Oh, duh! How silly of me. I can’t believe I forgot that we slut-shame people in this country.
