Over 2,800 people have signed an online petition calling for the expulsion of a group of students at New Hampshire's Bedford High School accused of taking photos of some of their female classmates, making them into trading cards and grading the pictures.
“The young women attending Bedford High School deserve justice,” the petition on Change.org reads. “These shameful young boys are treating their fellow peers as sex objects... We are not a toy for your son to play with, nor a piece of paper that can be traded like a Pokémon card.”
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Administrators at Bedford High School sent an email to parents last week, noting that some freshmen and sophomores — mostly boys — had created physical and digital trading cards featuring the chests and backsides of girls in the 11th and 12th grades.
In an updated email to parents on Friday, school administrators said they have interviewed at least 35 students, including boys and girls from both grades. The email said one student shared two pictures that were collages of girls. All of the girls were clothed, and none of the photos were taken inside the school. Three collages and individual photos were also shared on Snapchat. The students sharing the images did not have the girls' consent, the email said.
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So far, school administrators said they have not been able to find any phsycial trading cards, though multiple students mentioned hearing about them.
"This is horrible," one Bedford High senior told NBC10 Boston. "That's just disgusting."
The student said for at least a week, boys had been printing pictures of the girls and taping them over Pokémon cards.
"They were, like, rating them," said the student, whom NBC10 Boston is not naming. "From 0 to 10, and just rating them, 'bad or not bad.'"
The senior said the girls didn't even know they were on the cards until the last several days. One of them is his friend.
"She's pissed. She's not happy at all," he said. "She was just very embarrassed."
School Superintendent Michael Fournier said he still doesn't know the names of the students or victims, and the district has only received vague complaints.
"The administration has been talking to kids. No names have come forward. So if there are names, we would like those names," Fournier said. "This is inappropriate. We're going to deal with it. There will be consequences. Once we know, then we'll know which consequences to issue."
