A photographer taking school pictures at a Virginia elementary school, allegedly said some alarming things to a student during a photo shoot. The incident occurred at EW Chittum Elementary School in Chesapeake. The child’s mother, Rachel Fjeld, was shocked by what happened but praised school officials for acting quickly and believing her child.
The photographer, who worked for Lifetouch, a subsidiary of Shutterfly, was immediately escorted off the property. According to Shutterfly, she was also terminated for violating policy. Fjeld told WTKR she was thankful her son spoke up and that the school acted quickly to protect all students.
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The photographer allegedly asked the child inappropriate questions.
Fjeld told WTKR that her son was waiting to have his picture taken when the photographer approached and allegedly began asking him strange questions. Fjeld said her son told her the photographer asked if she could steal his identity, and when the child declined, she then asked if she could eat his soul. When the boy told her no again, she asked him what she could eat, and the boy told her, “noodles.”
The photographer's strange behavior continued.
She reportedly told the child that she couldn’t eat noodles because “Demons don’t eat noodles.”
The conversation made the little boy very uncomfortable, and he had the foresight to tell a trusted adult. School officials acted quickly, and the photographer was escorted from the property. Fjeld said she was proud of her son and appreciated how quickly the school handled the incident, WTKR reported.
“It went to the principal, who is amazing, I will say. The school handled it – we so appreciate it. They were very quick they immediately escorted her off the premises, they called us,” she said.
School officials shared a message with parents.
“School administration immediately addressed the issue,” Chittum Principal Bridget shared in a statement obtained by WAVY.
The statement continued, “Parents of students who reported the concern were notified. The company management swiftly addressed the situation and started an investigation. We want to commend our students for quickly reporting the incident. We are thankful that our message of ‘see something, say something’ was effectively used in this situation.”
Lifetouch confirmed the photographer no longer works for the company.
The photographer no longer works for Lifetouch, WTKR reported, and the company shared in a statement how it vets its workers. “At Lifetouch, our number one priority is the safety of every student we photograph. We have numerous policies and procedures in place to ensure that safety, including training and background checks on all of our photographers. We take any allegation about a photographer very seriously and are conducting a thorough internal investigation. In the meantime, the employee in question has been removed from all photography duties.”
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Fjord said none of this is a joke.
It’s unclear why the photographer made the comments, but Fjeld said none of them were funny. These kids were too young to understand her jokes.
“You can say all the things you want to say about good vs evil, God vs the devil, or demons or whatever but at the end of the day what was said was not funny and it wasn’t okay. It was a child in an uncomfortable situation,” Fjeld told WKRT. “I know people are trying to say, ‘oh she’s just joking. It was just funny.’ But it’s not funny. That’s not funny. And what that doesn’t do is put any child at ease, it just scares them.”
