A Virginia elementary faculty photographer reportedly misplaced her job after being accused of creating improper remarks to younger college students, together with allegedly asking one boy, “Can I eat your soul?”
The principal of Chittum Elementary College in Chesapeake, Bridget Outlaw, mentioned in an electronic mail to oldsters final week {that a} photographer employed to take faculty photos was escorted off campus for making “inappropriate feedback” to college students, WTKR reported. The photographer, who was not named by faculty or firm officers, was employed by Lifetouch, a household and faculty pictures service owned by Shutterfly.
In an interview, dad or mum Rachel Fjeld advised WTKR that her son was sitting to have his faculty image taken when the photographer allegedly requested him, “Can I steal your identification?” and “Can I eat your soul?”
“You’ll be able to say all of the stuff you wish to say about good vs. evil, God vs. the satan, or demons or no matter, however on the finish of the day what was mentioned was not humorous, and it wasn’t OK. It was a baby in an uncomfortable scenario,” Fjeld mentioned. “I do know persons are attempting to say, ‘Oh she’s simply joking. It was simply humorous,’ however it’s not humorous. That is not humorous. And what that does not do is put any youngster comfy, it simply scares them.”
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A faculty bus arrives at George Mason Elementary College in Alexandria, Virginia, on Aug. 21, 2023. (Craig Hudson for The Washington Put up through Getty Photos)
“She requested him, ‘Can I steal your identification?’ His response was simply, ‘No.’ Her subsequent query was, ‘Can I eat your soul?’ And, you realize, when he was expressing it to us he was crying, he was very upset and he mentioned ‘No, no,’” Fjeld mentioned of the trade between her son and the photographer.
“Her subsequent query was, ‘Properly, then what can I eat?’ He advised me, he mentioned, ‘Mommy I did not know what to say so I mentioned the very first thing that got here to thoughts was, ‘You’ll be able to have noodles, you possibly can eat noodles,’ and her response was, ‘Demons do not eat noodles.'”
The mom, who initially sounded the alarm in regards to the alleged remarks in a since-privatized Fb publish, additionally thanked the elementary faculty for his or her swift response.
“It went to the principal, who’s wonderful, I’ll say. The varsity dealt with it – we so recognize it. They had been very fast. They instantly escorted her off the premises, they known as us,” Fjeld advised the outlet.
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As soon as the feedback had been reported, faculty administration “instantly addressed the difficulty, and this particular person was escorted off of college property,” Outlaw mentioned in an electronic mail to the varsity neighborhood final week, in keeping with the native station. “Dad and mom of scholars who reported the priority had been notified.”
This file photograph reveals a photographer and faculty youngsters throughout “image day” at Rogers Worldwide College on Sept. 23, 2020, in Stamford, Connecticut. (John Moore/Getty Photos)
“We wish to commend our college students for shortly reporting the incident,” Outlaw mentioned. “We’re grateful that our message of ‘see one thing, say one thing’ was successfully used on this scenario.”
On Friday, a Shutterfly spokesperson advised WTKR that the photographer concerned within the Chittum Elementary incident was now not employed as a photographer by Lifetouch and an inside investigation is underway.
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“At Lifetouch, our primary precedence is the security of each pupil we {photograph},” the corporate mentioned in an announcement obtained by the outlet. “Now we have quite a few insurance policies and procedures in place to make sure that security, together with coaching and background checks on all of our photographers. We take any allegation a few photographer very severely, and are conducting a radical inside investigation. Within the meantime, the worker in query has been faraway from all pictures duties.”