CYPRESS, Texas — More inappropriate photos of students that were taken inside Cy-Fair ISD restrooms are being shared on social media. A teen was charged earlier this month for doing it at a high school in the district. As it turns out, it happened at Bleyl Middle School before that.
A concerned parent reached out to KHOU 11 News to tell her story after she saw what happened at the high school. She wanted to conceal her identity so her name will not be used in this story.
The woman said a photo was taken of her child, who is in the sixth grade, using the bathroom on Jan. 31. She said the photo was posted about a week later, on Feb. 7.
"There was a picture of my son in the bathroom posted on Instagram," she said.
Earlier this month, she saw the KHOU 11 story and was angry because she said neither the school nor the district did anything to stop it from happening.
"When I saw the story, I was furious and I just feel like it's going to keep happening until they are held accountable," the woman said.
She said her son was mortified.
"He didn't even want to go back the next day. The level of embarrassment for him ... I can't imagine it," she said.
She said she contacted the school and even filed a police report. She said they were able to track down the student who took the photo and the student was charged. But, she said, her son's photo remained up on Instagram for about 30 days.
"As far as protecting him, I was able to pull him from the school and put him in private school," she said.
This mother took her son out because she felt like he was not going to be protected from incidents like this in the future. She said she wanted the school to notify parents of the incident and they refused. She said she wanted parents to know about it so they could talk to their kids.
"After the meetings, I had with the school principal and police department, I didn't feel the district was doing enough to protect him and other students and make changes going forward. I didn't feel comfortable," she said.
She thinks that since her son's incident happened before the incident at the high school, if parents and students in the district had been informed of the first incident, it might have been prevented.
Other parents agree. They said their kids are scared to use the restroom at school.
"They look to the top of the stall and ceiling to make sure there is no phone over the stall," another concerned parent said.
The district confirmed the incident happened and said appropriate consequences were issued.
CFISD said it was implementing some rules to try to prevent it from happening again. Officials said phones must be put in backpacks while students are at the middle school. The kids are also taking a cyberbullying lesson. They couldn't confirm if they discussed the specific incidents and consequences with students and parents.
KHOU 11 News also reached out to all members of the school board, which are elected by the people, but they deferred to the district's media department.
Not the first time
It's the second time the issue has come up recently. Last week, KHOU 11 reported on it happening at Cy Falls High School. A 17-year-old student was charged with felony invasive visual recording.
According to court documents, the incident happened on April 12. Fredrick Taylor pointed the camera on his phone over the top of a bathroom stall and recorded another student going to the bathroom. The video showed the victim's penis.
It didn't stop there, though, because Taylor then shared the video with his friends, according to court documents.
According to court records, school police investigated and identified Taylor as the person who took the video. Those court records said he admitted to doing it.
Taylor was arrested and booked into the Harris County Jail but has since bonded out.
Taylor is 17 and is being charged as an adult. His next court appearance is scheduled for May.
Serious repercussions
Prosecutors want to remind people how serious the crime actually is.
"I think students, nowadays because smartphones are so accessible, might take this lightly ... (like), it's a joke. They don't realize there is a victim on the other side of it and it can be humiliating and even damaging to the victim as well," Assistant District Attorney Michelle Anderson said.
Prosecutors said the cases are fairly common in the juvenile system and the charges could haunt kids for the rest of their lives.