2 third-graders suspended at Lake Stevens school for finding porn on computer, sharing with others

LAKE STEVENS, Wash. -- Two 3rd-grade students at Sunnycrest Elementary in Lake Stevens have been suspended after one found sexually explicit images on a district computer and they shared them with classmates, school district spokeswoman Jamie Taylor said Tuesday.

It was not disclosed how long the two children would be suspended.

An email sent by the Lake Stevens School District to parents said, in part:

"We’re writing to notify you about an extremely unfortunate situation that occurred at Sunnycrest. During class, a third-grade student searched for, and was able to access explicit sexual images on a district computer. She then shared those images with several of her classmates. Appropriate disciplinary action was taken.

"Typically, images of this nature would be blocked by our filtering software. Lake Stevens School District subscribes to a filtering software that blocks certain 'classifications' for all users, including: pornography; gambling; obscenities; adult content; hate/violence; and URL shorteners. In this instance, the images were searchable and visible due to a change in the search engine that had not been updated by the filtering software company.

"Once staff members became aware of the situation, Information Technology technicians were immediately notified and all student computer use at Sunnycrest is suspended until our investigation is complete. Additionally, the filter is being tested on a district-wide basis to ensure that all students are protected from explicit content."

In a statement to news media, the school district said, "We are sincerely sorry that it happened. No student, especially third-graders, should have access to explicit content ... we are working to ensure that this will not happen again."