Community plans talk after nude pictures of female students shared online

DAVIDSON — A week after nude pictures of dozens of middle school and high school girls were shared online, Davidson community members said it's time to talk.

STORY: CMS police: Nude pics of female teens shared at several schools

"It's a huge national problem, one that we refuse to deny is in our neighborhood," Lynn Hennighausen, the president of Davidson LifeLine said.

Hennighausen organized the event to be held Thursday night called "A Community Response: Where did we Drop the Ball?"

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"This isn't any school issue, this isn't any high school, middle school's fault," Hennighausen said. "This is something we need to talk about together."

Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools police are still trying to identify some of the students in the pictures. They are investigating the student accused of sharing the photos with friends at Hough High, and at Bradley and Bailey middle schools.

Dawn Sanderson lives in Davidson and heard about last week's incident.

"Downloading pictures and sexual pictures, this has gotten out of control," Sanderson said. "How do we regulate this? How do we get our children to understand the risk?"

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Those are some of the questions Thursday's forum will explore.

The CMS detective on the Hough High case, along with a psychologist prepared to discuss the adolescent brain, are among the panelists. Topics include teen brain development, social media and the law. 

Hennighausen says the responsibility should be shared among parents, schools and the community.
 
"Instead of pointing fingers, how can we work together to say you know what, we need to do this differently," Hennighausen said.   

Organizers said a major portion of the event will be questions and a conversation. The goal is to create a list of calls to action for the community.

Thursday's event is free and open to the public. It starts at 7 p.m. at Davidson College Presbyterian Church Congregation House on Concord Road.

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