When you're a kid, it's somehow easy to forget that your teachers are people, too. People who have lives outside the classroom, where they aren't so perfectly behaved. Every now and then, there are small reminders of this fact, when you see them hanging out in the break room or trading inside jokes between classes. But for one incredibly nosey high schooler, that reminder apparently came while snooping through the desk of his school counselor. (Yes, really.)
According to WXYX, the unnamed student at Taylor High School in Michigan found a photo showing several teachers giving the middle finger to the camera.
Gasp!
Now, at first listen, that does sound kinda bad. But when you hear that the student was apparently rifling through the counselor's desk drawers without permission — and then uploaded the photo to Snapchat, where it quickly went viral — well … the story becomes less about the teachers and more about the student's actions.
“It was private and teachers have private lives," Linda Moore, president of the Taylor Teachers Federation, told the news station.
Moore added that the photo was originally snapped back in the fall of 2018, during a goodbye party for an assistant principal who was leaving the district. In other words, it was a joke.
But in the hands of a high schooler — and taken way out of context — it appeared to be something much different: Perfect social media fodder.
Once it was shared on Snapchat, it was viewed by far more than just fellow students, and wound up making the local news.
Concerned viewers even alerted 7 Action News, which looked into the matter. But while District Superintendent Ben Williams told the outlet that he's investigating the matter further, Moore doesn't seem to think the issue is a big deal. Instead, she stated that the teachers and counselors in the photo all have "impeccable" records, and no disciplinary actions are currently being taken.
Over on Facebook, many users were perplexed why people were even up in arms about this.
"It’s sad that teachers and school administrators can literally improve the lives of thousands of kids and all it takes is one student/parent with an axe to grind to destroy their credibility and careers," wrote one user on a WXYZ-TV Facebook post.
"Why are the students who stole the picture not being punished or charged," asked another.
Many others turned the focus to the parents of the student involved.
"If my child had gone through someone else’s belongings, publishing a photo would be the least of their worries," wrote one man. "Sounds like the parents failed teaching their child to respect other people’s property. Just my opinion."
I'm not here for piling on the parent, since at the end of the day, that student made a decision all on his own. But I do wonder why and if the student will undergo any disciplinary action for stealing the photo and then posting it without permission. No word yet though on whether that will happen.