Photo of Fleming Island teen doctored to include sexist, racist content

A photo of a Fleming Island High School student pushing for safer schools was turned into a cruel joke by her classmates.

An email from Clay County District Schools Superintendent Addison Davis to the school board said, “This incident involves the principal’s son.”

The message school district spokesperson Nicole Snyder sent Action News Jax was identical to the email the superintendent sent to the school board, except the detail about the principal’s son was left out.

The original photo of the student protesting outside the Duval County Courthouse shows her holding a sign that says, “Fear has no place in schools.”

Those images were doctored and posted on social media. One had changed her sign to show a swastika and a racial slur.

Another photo had her sign changed to say, “Women are property.”

“Every time I look at those pictures, it just makes me sick,” said Clay County School Board Chair Carol Studdard. “I just can’t believe, this day and time, that people will do things like this.”

“Because the posting was disseminated from a platform outside of the district’s supervision, after school hours, and not part of a school-sponsored event, we are limited in our discipline response because it did not impact the learning environment,” said Snyder in an emailed statement.

Fleming Island High School senior Collin Hardin said the images should not reflect poorly on his school.

“It’s just kind of, like, dumb teenagers doing dumb stuff. You shouldn’t take it personally,” said Hardin.

Snyder said the district has met with all the students and parents involved for coaching and counseling.

Cox Media Group