Parents question efforts to catch culprit who played porn for Dreher High seniors
Some parents of Dreher High School students are not satisfied with Richland 1’s response to a hacker taking over an online meeting and playing porn for graduating seniors.
Nearly a week after the incident, few questions have been answered and parents are beginning to question whether the district is taking the incident seriously.
Had it not been for an email sent from the high school’s principal to apologize, it’s unclear how parents would have known about it unless they were on the virtual call. Columbia Police weren’t called to take an incident report until Tuesday — five days after the incident, and only after The State Media Co. phoned district and law enforcement officials.
No crime was listed on the police report. Richland 1 Superintendent Craig Witherspoon has not responded to the newspaper’s requests for phone interviews to discuss the matter.
“This is what drives me crazy about this district; we hear it from kids and not the district’s leaders,” said Pamela Gillam, a parent of a Dreher student.
Last Friday, Dreher High principal Kevin Hasinger invited roughly 300 seniors and their parents to an online meeting held through the Cisco Webex platform to discuss plans for the school’s upcoming graduation ceremony. That meeting, however, was taken over by a culprit who booted and locked the principal out of the meeting and played a pornographic video for those watching, some of whom were minors.
Under state law, and according to the state Attorney General’s office, it is a felony for someone over the age of 18 to show minors obscene materials. Educators are also required to report such crimes involving minors to law enforcement.
About 40 students were on the call at the time, as well as a number of school staff members and parents, said Richland 1 spokeswoman Karen York. Hasinger emailed school parents shortly afterward to apologize, saying he was “mortified and angry” about the incident.
“It was just really confusing and shocking and really upsetting,” Fethiye Harris, a senior at Dreher who was in the meeting, told WACH-TV. She said students are especially sad this happened to Hasinger.
Though it’s unclear who the perpetrator is, Hasinger has vowed to expel them if found to be a student. He also said that if it’s a senior, they will not participate in the upcoming ceremony and will have their diploma withheld. Parents who spoke with the newspaper have praised the principal’s transparency and quick response.
But the district? Not so much.
“For me, this whole story is about the district not being transparent and communicating timely, and how this is an ongoing issue,” said Gillam, adding the district is losing precious time to catch the individual. “We want to know if they’re doing everything they can and if they are capable of doing it.”
Gillam said the incident reminds her of other times Richalnd 1 wasn’t as forthcoming about serious matters involving students, such as when parents learned in December 2018 that a middle schooler shot a gun while at a bus stop and a threat at Hand Middle School back in May.
In the more recent incident, school board members weren’t made aware of the hijacked meeting until this week, and the district, which says it’s conducting an investigation, has yet to reach out to any of the affected students and parents.
“The principal apologized to the students, parents and staff who participated in the meeting,” York wrote in an email. “That communication was made by the school, as school incidents are routinely handled.”
District officials have said that the principal first notified the school’s resource officer Monday — three days after the event — and alerted the district’s security and IT departments the previous Friday — the day of the incident. Columbia police, however, initially said on Tuesday they were unsure if the incident fell within their jurisdiction, adding that its special victims unit was not aware of the incident.
Moreover, the incident report shows the same officer, who district officials claim was informed Monday, was first dispatched to take a report on Tuesday. The document shows he initiated that report and that it was taken hours after the newspaper began asking about the online meeting.
The district, which has more than 20,000 students, also said it is unaware of similar instances since it transitioned to virtual learning due to the coronavirus pandemic. Asked what steps officials are taking to ensure it doesn’t happen again, York said the district is “reviewing protocols and procedures for virtual communications with students.”
“We’ve also shared with our staff safety and security steps that meeting hosts can take to prevent this type of incident from occurring,” she added.
Virtual meetings being hijacked by bad actors is not unique to Richland 1. It’s a trend seen across the country, begging the question whether schools are equipped to handle the digital transition.
But Dreher parents like Rebecca Dillard say the recent disbanding of Richland 1’s instructional technology coaching department puts the district at a disadvantage compared to others. She said that she and other parents are supportive of how Hasinger and the school handled the incident, though she would like more answers from the district.
“Most of us were disappointed to know that our school board members were not made aware of the incident, particularly those who represent our district,” Dillard said. “I think it would be reassuring to hear what procedures the district is taking to make sure this type of incident doesn’t happen again.”
This story was originally published May 22, 2020 at 1:49 PM.