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Parent finds nude picture of her kid's principal on the web, hysteria ensues
Categories: Education
Mark Classen, a school principle in the Canadian resort town of Harrison Hot Springs, has been suspended from his job after a teacher found a nude photo of him on the internet.
It wasn't on a gay site. It didn't even show his penis. But Classen has been suspended anyway. Classen made the mistake of sending a parent at his school an e-mail from his personal account, which included a link to his personal site in the signature line. The parent followed the link, after trolling through hundreds of pictures that were on Classen's personal site. "She was ecstatic about the other pictures, how wonderful they were," said School district chairman Jim Sinclair, who then heard from the parent. But when she found the one photo that showed Classen in the nude, she became irate. Apparently someone then sent the photo to the local news media, and the incident blew up from there.
The photo was taken 15 years ago, when Classen and his wife visited a nude beach in Australia. Classen's face is not visible in the photo, nor is his penis obvious in the photograph. All you can tell is that it is a naked man. Still, Classen may lose his job over what seems like a stupid, but largely harmless, mistake. The school district has asked Classen to turn over his home computer to school officials so they can see if there is any other potentially offensive material on it. Classen, on the advice of an attorney, has rightly refused. Sinclair says some parents are angry, citing a "faction in the school that at the meeting on Monday night accused him of being a pedophile and a pervert and a few other names. It's hysteria."
So ridiculous. I hope Classen gets his job back as soon as possible, and an apology from everyone who put him through this. Even if the picture had showed him as a naked-cage dancer in a gay bar, if he's a good principal (and by all accounts he's a great principal) what should it matter?
It wasn't on a gay site. It didn't even show his penis. But Classen has been suspended anyway. Classen made the mistake of sending a parent at his school an e-mail from his personal account, which included a link to his personal site in the signature line. The parent followed the link, after trolling through hundreds of pictures that were on Classen's personal site. "She was ecstatic about the other pictures, how wonderful they were," said School district chairman Jim Sinclair, who then heard from the parent. But when she found the one photo that showed Classen in the nude, she became irate. Apparently someone then sent the photo to the local news media, and the incident blew up from there.
The photo was taken 15 years ago, when Classen and his wife visited a nude beach in Australia. Classen's face is not visible in the photo, nor is his penis obvious in the photograph. All you can tell is that it is a naked man. Still, Classen may lose his job over what seems like a stupid, but largely harmless, mistake. The school district has asked Classen to turn over his home computer to school officials so they can see if there is any other potentially offensive material on it. Classen, on the advice of an attorney, has rightly refused. Sinclair says some parents are angry, citing a "faction in the school that at the meeting on Monday night accused him of being a pedophile and a pervert and a few other names. It's hysteria."
So ridiculous. I hope Classen gets his job back as soon as possible, and an apology from everyone who put him through this. Even if the picture had showed him as a naked-cage dancer in a gay bar, if he's a good principal (and by all accounts he's a great principal) what should it matter?
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
The Feminist Mafia 4-27-2007 @ 3:22PM
Good lord, enough with the "gay" thing in your post. First of all, if the principle was on a "gay site" (paragraph 2), would that have made it worse? And if he were pictured in a "gay bar" (paragraph 4), would that have made it worse? Throughout this post, you're leaking homophobia. Is that how you intend to come across?
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Miss 4-27-2007 @ 3:28PM
Mafia: The writer, like you, is very adamantly a gay fan. He was being tongue-in-cheek/sarcastic to suggest how much worse this would have been had the principal been involved with homosexuality. My advice to both you and the writer: Quit worrying about gays - we can can take of ourselves and we don't need you bleeding-hearts types pandering to us anymore.
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jdg 4-27-2007 @ 7:35PM
I'm not worried about gays, Miss. I just think you're fabulous.
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ninainindia 4-27-2007 @ 4:28PM
"Classen may lose his job over what seems like a stupid, but largely harmless, mistake" I don't think there was a mistake made by this man. The only mistake made here was by the hysterical mother. AS you say there wasn't even a penis on the photo and the photo is 15 years old!!
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Kelly 4-27-2007 @ 4:52PM
Looks like most of the parents at the school support Classen. But I agree -- enough of the "even if he was gay...." stuff. As if nudity = gay.
http://www.canada.com/theprovince/news/story.html?id=1e305ce8-6c07-4c37-b5b3-a2119f571a6b&k=31394
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jdg 4-27-2007 @ 7:36PM
I am so sick of the smug telling me what I can and cannot write here.
do you people really think I believe it would be acceptable for them to be upset if it was a gay site? You hear about people posing for gay sites and it biting them back later. You would expect a bunch of stupid ignorant homophobic assholes to be upset about a picture of their kids' principal in a sexualized context like a gay porn site. are there a lot of websites where straight men pose for straight women? Are there any? The point is, this wasn't the kind of situation where you would expect a bunch or rubes to be upset, it was an innocent thing and a man is having his life turned inside out because of it.
It's clear that some people who read this site (1) have absolutely no sense of humor; and (2) are burdened by an excessive amount of burning self-righteousness.
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Rebecca Morrow 4-27-2007 @ 11:20PM
Avoiding the gay not gay argument altogether ("Frankly, Scarlett I don't give a d*@^."), as a principal part of his contract probably includes a "morality clause" (my teacher contract does.) The school board could, theoretically, fire him for violating that part of his contract.
Yes, it's not fair.
Yes, it's very narrow-minded.
But, when you sign on to serve in a career that involves being principled, having integrity, respect, and serving as a role model to youngsters, then you do sign away some of the choices you might otherwise make in your personal life. As much as I like to partake of alcohol and gettin' nude with my husband (not necessarily an either/or situation), there is no way I would put myself in a position of doing so in public or having either end up posted on a webpage anywhere!
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The Feminist Mafia 4-28-2007 @ 8:25AM
Miss: I'm a lesbian, so my pandering is selfish.
JDG: Glad to hear that you're not a homophobe. You answered my question.
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Ann Adams 4-28-2007 @ 7:08PM
Miss
As a member of PFLAG and the mother of a gay son, I'm sorry that you see us "bleeding hearts" as pandering.
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x 4-30-2007 @ 2:59AM
I saw the picture, it was taken in 2004, stories are being changed with every news article. It was a full frontal shot and his genitals were very much showing in the picture. It was found by the parent among about 50-100 pictures on his site (not the 500 that everyone seems to be saying). I think the media needs to back off with what's being written and let the school board deal with the issue, if Mark Classen did nothing other than make a huge mistake by posting the picture then he'll be back at the school soon. I trust that the school board will do the right thing.
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eln 5-02-2007 @ 12:33AM
In fact, there were nearly 500 pictures on his site.There were nearly 70 in this section, I also saw the picture and did not disect as being full frontal as it was a side view and you could not make out who the man was. Its a shame that someone took it in to their own hands to go on a witch hunt and try and destroy this man. This pathetic person should find something better to do with thier time. It was a tasteful, artistic expression. He had no ill intent and now we are all paying through our tax dollars....the "poor"public school system...I wonder whos really going to suffer. Our children perhaps? And hopefully one guilty conscience!
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#1 5-02-2007 @ 10:01AM
Huge mistake.....WHAT???? It was his personal site. A family homepage. Sounds like someone needs to be doing more thatn sitting on the computer all day trying to dig up dirt on someone.
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physed 5-02-2007 @ 10:21AM
Maybe we should delve into the complaintants past. Maybe they're not a fit parent, maybe they're a danger to society....And another thing, its not just the tax payers money, this poor guy will be paying out of his own pocket too and lawyers can cost up to $300 per hr. I wonder if this person knew what she would be doing to this poor guy over one vacation photo? Pretty bizarre!!!
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jax 5-02-2007 @ 10:29AM
Gay?lesbian doesn't matter, he's not. He's a great, creative,inspiring Pricipal who has broyght culture,arts and a strong sense of our community. The parent who went behind his back to publicly humiliate him and our school is the one who made the mistake. The principal had a family homepage. She was inadvertantly sent a link but it was a mistake and probably the biggest mistake he's ever made. I know he regrets that one!!!I wish he could have sent it to someone WAY more compassionate and not so nosey!!!Unfortunately this parent can't see the disaster she alone has caused but what goes around comes around....hopefully,lady, you've never made a mistake!
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jdg 5-02-2007 @ 10:55AM
okay, thanks for clearing up the issue of the visible penis. Now let's get down to the real important issue here:
Is principal Classen hung like a stallion?
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noblsht 5-02-2007 @ 11:48AM
Unfortunately, the real issue here is not as funny as that. Its a shame that one person who obviously has more issues going on in her life, can try and ruin another mans life over something so little(ok....ha ha...thought I'd get in on your penis joke= ).)I didn't realize the naked body could ever cause so much controversy. It wasn't porn,it wasn't sexually explicit...whats her problem?!
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florida 5-02-2007 @ 11:54AM
I'd check into the person who complained...maybe theres a skeleton in her closet! Find out her name so we can check into her past...google HER, do a criminal check on HER....call the papers with anything trivial we find and drag HER name through the mud. I wonder how she'd feel!
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florida 5-02-2007 @ 11:54AM
Has anyone checked this complaintant out? Sounds like a very unhappy person. Maybe we should all google her...crim check her etc etc. What could be going on in someones pathetic life that this non issue could have been blown out of proportion? What a freak!
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x 5-03-2007 @ 8:03PM
eln, I don't know what picture you were looking at but the one I saw was a full frontal shot of his body with his head turned to the side and you COULD tell who it was! Whether he had ill intent or not is irrelevant, he made a HUGE mistake and if he truly did nothing wrong then he will be back at the school. I find it interesting that it is taking so long for him to come back, I'm sure there is very good reasons for him to still be absent from the school.
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69 5-08-2007 @ 4:52PM
X: sounds like You have an axe to grind! Its taking so long because YOU forced this situation into the hands of big lawyers who cost our school system $300 per hour. Think of that the next time the school says they don't have money for field trips. By the way....hope YOU"Ve never made a mistake...actually...I hope you did and it was a small stupid one and someone blows it totally out of proportion and YOU are humiliated! See who laughs last!!!Karma
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