Dive Brief:

• Police opened a felony investigation at Colorado's Cañon County High School trying to determine if any underage students or adults were involved in this new sexting scandal, one of many that have unfolded in American high schools.
• No charges have been filed, though an undisclosed number of students have been suspended, CNN reports.
• The students involved traded pictures using a password-protected app disguised to look like a calculator or media player. 

Dive Insight:

Reports about sexting were made to both the district and to the state's confidential reporting line, Safe2Tell. One parent told CNN that her daughter received unsolicited nude photos from male students at the school two full years before before the current scandal came to light, and that she was "concerned that action had not been taken sooner."

The problem of sexting in schools has emerged as cell phone use proliferates, and solutions vary. Yahoo, for example, created an online curriculum similar to traffic school that educates teens about the consequences of sexting, either proactively or reactively. Sexting can carry serious legal and criminal penalties in some states, along with the possibility of a permanent place on the Department of Justice's national sex offender registry.

"There isn't a school in the United States probably at this point that hasn't at some point dealt with the issue of sexting," George Welsh, Schools Superintendent, said.

Recommended Reading

CNN: Sexting scandal: Colorado high school faces felony investigation