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Police and school district officials are investigating several Farmington Junior High teenagers who traded nude photos of themselves over cell phones.
The latest incident is the third time this school year that Farmington schools have caught students trading photos of their genitals and other nude shots, said Christopher Williams, a spokesman for the Davis School District.
"This type of technology creates problems," Williams said. "Imagine being a teacher trying to teach a class and you've got students sharing inappropriate photos of each other. You're not going to have the attention of the students."
A parent recently found the explicit photos on a child's cell phone and contacted police with concerns about the material, said Farmington police Lt. Shane Whitacker. The photos were traced to 13- and 14-year-old students enrolled at Farmington Junior High School, he said. Both boys and girls were involved.
School officials say there may be eight or nine students who participated in the photo exchange. Whitacker said the photos were traded among an "inner circle of friends" at the school and weren't publicly circulating. Investigators believe the photos were traded consensually between students, he said.
Police have interviewed at least four students connected to the incidents, Whitacker said, adding no one has been charged.
Williams said the school has "taken action" against three students who participated in trading explicit photos, but declined to discuss specifics of the disciplinary measures taken. He said the students are working with a case management team provided by the school district that will assess whether the teenagers need counseling or other services.
Teenagers assigned to a case management team generally aren't allowed to attend classes until they've met certain steps and are deemed ready to return to school, Williams said.
Farmington Junior High took action against the students because their behavior intruded on other students' learning process, he said. The district allows cell phones, but confiscates them when they are "used inappropriately."
Farmington Junior High will host a technology-safety seminar for parents the first week of March in connection with White Ribbon Week, an anti-pornography awareness campaign. Parents can learn how to monitor their children's iPod, cell phone and Internet use for safety purposes. A time and date for the session is pending.