Staff Arrested for Possessing Child Exploitation Materials. Now What?
The number of school employees arrested for possessing child sex abuse material is absolutely shocking. There is no other way to spin it.
In the aftermath of an arrest, staff replay every interaction with the alleged offender. Parents worry about safety and wonder how no one saw any warning signs. Students hear rumors and struggle to reconcile the alleged conduct with the adult they thought they knew. Administrators and attorneys need solid facts to respond with confidence.
Too often, the immediate public message from a district is, “We are not aware of any on-campus misconduct involving students.” That may feel reassuring in the moment, but it raises a hard question: how can a district say that with confidence if it has not done a serious internal review of potential red flags?
This is where a disciplined, structured Red Flags Check comes in.
Case Example: Off-Campus Arrest Leads to On-Campus Abuse
In August 2025, a teacher was arrested for filming children in a movie theater bathroom. The police later found secret videos he made of students in the school’s bathroom, and discovered that he and another teacher were exchanging these images.
What an Arrest Does - And Does Not - Tell You
When a K–12 employee who spends their days surrounded by children is arrested for sexually explicit images or videos of children, every alarm bell should ring. An arrest for possessing, trading, or creating child sex abuse material tells you two critical things:
The individual has been accused of a serious child-exploitation sexual offense.
Law enforcement believes there is probable cause that the employee intentionally obtained, shared, or created illegal images or videos with unknown minors.
It does not tell you if any students were targeted, if warning signs were missed, and if internal processes worked. Leaving these questions unanswered threatens student safety and risks significant liability if on-campus misconduct is later identified.
The School’s Job: Look Backward and Inward, Not Just Outward
In the wake of a staff arrest, schools should be looking backward and inward with a thorough and disciplined review to determine:
Whether the employee ever targeted students in your district
Whether warning signs were missed, or noticed but not reported
Whether your internal systems are set up to receive and address concerns
Not only can this process identify potential victims, it also highlights compliance lapses and prevention opportunities to protect student safety in the future. The Campus Integrity Group developed the Red Flags Check to give schools a clear, step-by-step process for collecting and assessing information so leaders can make informed, defensible decisions about what comes next.
Campus Integrity Group can quickly conduct a Red Flags Check for schools to ensure a thorough and impartial review of the off-campus allegations and any on-campus concerns. Hiring independent investigators can instill trust in the process and identify actionable findings to guide the school’s response.
Our Marketplace also offers a Response Guide for Staff Arrests that includes our Red Flags Check protocol. This step-by-step fillable PDF gives schools a reliable protocol for the critical first hours and days after a sexual misconduct arrest, and spells out exactly what to do, who is responsible for each task, and how to document actions so you create a solid and defensible record.
Bottom line:
When a school employee is arrested for possessing child sex abuse material, removing them from the building is not enough. A district concerned about student safety and long-term trust must look backward and inward, not just outward to the criminal case. A structured Red Flags Check gives you a way to do that with rigor instead of guesswork.
Response Guide for Staff Arrests: This Guide explains how to conduct a Red Flags Check—an internal review of personnel files, past complaints, background checks, disciplinary history, and feedback from supervisors, colleagues, and students.
