Sexting Scandal Hits Edina's Middle Schools

A Valley View Middle School student was apparently the victim of some unwanted attention from her classmates after a sexting incident swept through both of Edina's middle schools earlier this month.

Susan Brott, director of communications and community engagement with Edina Public Schools, confirmed the parent of a Valley View student called the school around Nov. 13 with concerns about an inappropriate message her student sent to another student. The parent reportedly said the message had been forwarded to other students and was possibly posted online.

"All of this was done outside of school, but it carried into conversations during the school day at both middle schools," Brott said. "The administrative teams at both schools, along with school counselors and EPS school liaison officers, worked through the situation with the students involved as well as their parents."

Brott said the issue goes beyond the schools, with the local incident serving as a reminder of how important it is to ensure students are "well-equipped with the skills about appropriate Internet use and unforeseen consequences."

"It's an unfortunate thing that happened and, sadly, it's a hard lesson for students to learn," she said. "Whenever possible, we try to use incidents like this as teachable moments."

A concerned Patch reader tipped us off to the story, passing along anecdotal evidence regarding the lewd messages, which he said his South View Middle School-attending son informed him of. The forwarded text messages allegedly consisted of a photo and video that involved underage nudity and sexual acts.

Like Edina Patch on Facebook | Follow us on Twitter | Sign up for our daily newsletter