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'Sexting' banned at public schools in Texas

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2009-08-25 08:19

HOUSTON: More public schools in Texas have banned the so-called "sexting" -- use of cell phones to send sexually suggestive or indecent text messages or photos, authorities said.

Public schools in Houston and Mesquite, Texas, have banned "sexting," the Dallas Morning News reported on Monday.

In July, the Houston Independent School District became one of the first large urban districts in the country to officially ban sexting, the paper said.

Mesquite Independent School District also added a section in its Student Code of Conduct this summer, prohibiting  "sending, sharing, viewing or possessing pictures, text messages, e-mails or other material of a sexual nature in electronic or any other form on a cellphone or other electronic device."  

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"We hope it (the ban) works as a deterrent," Ian Halperin, Mesquite ISD public information director, was quoted as saying. " Most students know that it (sexting) is wrong, but now they know they will get in trouble if they are caught."

Other public schools in Texas said they rely on existing school policy banning improper messaging and the use of cell phones during the school day, according to the paper.

A survey conducted in 2008 found that one in every five US teenagers have electronically sent, or posted on-line, nude or semi-nude images of themselves.