Students see topless teacher on iPad

ANDERSON, Ind. (CNN/WRTV) - Three Indiana middle school students are suspended after seeing a topless picture of their teacher.

One student said the photo popped up on a school-issued iPad during class. The boy and his mother said the punishment isn't fair.

"And a picture showed up of the teacher topless,” said 13-year-old Joshua Troutt.

He is talking about an incident that happened at Highland Middle School, where he and three other students were in their classroom playing a game called “Flow” on a school-issued iPad.

He said one of the students pressed a button, and a photograph with his teacher's bare chest was revealed.

"It's not our fault that she had the photo on there,” Troutt said. “We couldn't do anything not to look at it, if it just popped up when he pressed the button. It was her fault that she had the photo on there because her iPhone synched to it. She had to have pressed something to make all of her photos sync onto there."

The school district has a handbook that offers guidelines for the use of technology.

Assistant Superintendent Beth Clark said the technology use policy was followed and that what happened was quite by accident.  

Nevertheless, Troutt and several other students have been suspended and threatened with expulsion. Still, his mother thinks her son is not being treated fairly.
"He didn't even touch the iPad,” said Nicole Troutt. “It was another kid who pulled the picture up on the iPad. He never even touched it, period."

And she said she feels that’s very unfair, and Nicole’s outrage didn't stop there.

"In all reality, you'd think she'd be fired because that's a nude picture in the school that the students [have] seen," said Nicole.

School district officials said they have taken preventative action against the teacher, but they won't elaborate on what action.

Meanwhile, parents who disagree with the punishment can appeal.