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Beauvoir Teacher Caught with Pictures of Nude Child

by Jeff Steele last modified Mar 22, 2011 07:23 AM

For over a week, DCUM has been consumed by discussion concerning the discovery of inappropriate pictures of a young boy on a camera possessed by a third-grade teacher at one of the most elite schools in Washington, DC. At what point is a discussion of a story on DCUM become the story itself?

A popular third-grade teacher at Beauvoir, the National Cathedral Elementary School, has been placed on administrative leave after a school-owned camera in his possession was found to contain inappropriate pictures of a young boy. School officials notified parents of the incident in a June 12 letter that said, "The teacher was immediately placed on administrative leave, escorted from Beauvoir that afternoon, and did not participate in any of the closing chapel activities". Discussion of the incident has been raging in the DC Urban Moms and Dads discussion forum since a June 16 posting asking for specifics about what had happened.

While school officials have attempted to be proactive in providing information to the Beauvoir community (distributing letters on June 12, June 19, and June 20), many DCUM posters have complained that Beauvoir has not gone far enough. Anonymous posters have passed on information that has ranged from insider knowledge to simple gossip. The debate has grown to encompass many aspects including accusations that the school prioritized guarding its reputation over the protection of children, that Beauvoir was conspiring with the Washington Post to keep the story out of the newspaper, and that forum users themselves were acting as a lynch mob.

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