With a growing population of children across the country, some parents and teachers are concerned about how their students will be exposed to sexually-explicit content on the internet.
The topic of online sexual content has come up several times in recent weeks.
In June, a Georgia school district passed a law banning the sale of porn online.
Last week, the US Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights warned parents that their children could be exposed by sharing inappropriate content on social media platforms.
And on Tuesday, the House Education Committee announced it was considering new legislation that would allow schools to censor students’ social media accounts, which could include their accounts for pictures of themselves.
According to an online survey conducted by the Pew Research Center, nearly half of parents surveyed in June and July said they had received at least one letter from school officials, including one about inappropriate content in their children’s school.
The survey also found that more than two-thirds of parents reported that they had heard from a school about inappropriate posts on social networks, and that more parents were concerned about their children seeing inappropriate material on their school’s Facebook and Twitter pages than with their own.
Parents also reported a spike in the number of complaints about inappropriate material appearing on the school’s website.
And in the weeks following the June letter from the school district, several school districts reported having to take action.
In the weeks after the letter, some schools began removing inappropriate content from their websites and social media sites, including Twitter, YouTube, and Facebook.
In May, the school system in California removed material from its website that it deemed offensive.
But parents have been pushing back.
Some parents say they are worried about the risk of sexual abuse from the content they receive.
And they are taking action.
Theresa Waddell, a parent in South Carolina, said her 14-year-old son, who is attending Springfield Public Schools in southern South Carolina and is an honors student, was asked by a teacher to delete an online message from the social media platform.
The teacher said he would take a look at it.
Waddell said she received a letter in June that her son had violated a school policy and had to take steps to make sure the content did not appear on his social media account.
Waddel said she sent the letter to the school and it was approved.
Wasson Waddelle, who said her son attends Springfield High School in South Dakota, said the district told her that the teacher’s concerns were legitimate.
“He said there was no problem with it, that it was all good, and then they did take it down,” Waddells son, Thomas Waddella, told ABC News.
Walden, who has a 7-year old son at Springfield, said she was concerned about the potential consequences for her son.
“I’m not sure what he would be doing now,” Walden said.
Wadell said the school had taken steps to ensure that students who were being asked to delete the content were not allowed to use the school computer, including using encryption to keep the messages private.
“It would be very bad if I was to have my kid’s school computer stolen by some cybercriminal,” Waldell said.