from www.aolnews.com – More than 400 students from Norwin High School in western Pennsylvania got an unexpected eyeful Friday, when a big screen presentation on the importance of donating blood suddenly turned into an X-rated slideshow.
The hardcore images — described by students as gay pornography, according to the Pittsburgh Post Gazette — were stored on a portable flash drive owned by a Central Blood Bank employee. That USB stick also contained the safe-for-all-ages PowerPoint presentation. But unfortunately, the Gazette noted, when Assistant Principal Tim Kotch plugged the drive into a computer, he unwittingly clicked on the wrong file, causing several explicit photos to appear on the school’s giant TV screen.
“It took a few seconds for people to process what was up there,” senior Chelsey Fix told the newspaper.
“People were laughing, but the main thing was people were like, ‘I can’t believe this happened.'” Student Ethan Dobranski told Channel 4 Action News that the images included “frontal male nudity, and there was one with, like, two people in there, but it was, like, from the back.”
“That’s what popped up, but I don’t think [the Central Blood Bank employee] realized that was on there at the time, and he was truly embarrassed for what happened,” student Dan Jones told the TV news show.
“He was just shocked. He, like, put his hand on the stage and covered his head. He was so ashamed of himself for having that.”
A second presentation planned for the school’s junior class later that day was canceled.
Those hardcore images may have caused snickers among the students, but they look certain to result in the Central Blood Bank being hit with a seriously hefty lawsuit.
“They tell me it lasted about 30 seconds, which is a long time,” attorney Peter J. Payne, who has been hired by parents of several students who attended the presentation, told Channel 4.
“Every parent that I’ve talked to is very concerned. We’re still talking about the senior class, but these kids are 17, 18 years old at the most.”
The school district offered its “sincerest apologies” to parents in a letter, and said local police and the district attorney’s office had been notified. “We find this incident inexcusable and are taking every measure we can to ensure that the investigation is carried out with the utmost fidelity,” the letter read.
The Central Blood Bank also sent out a letter apologizing for the “inappropriate material” shown to students. The unnamed employee has been suspended pending an investigation. “Per organizational policy, employees are not allowed to use flash drives and are required to review their presentations in advance with their supervisor; in this situation, the employee ignored these policies,” the letter said.
However, the photo scandal has at least succeeded in raising awareness of the blood bank with local teens. Senior Ethan Dobranski, 17, told The Associated Press that the photos were the No. 1 topic of conversation on Friday. “No one’s ever going to forget this,” he said.