The DOE says it has strict security to prevent such incidents. The class was immediately taken offline and the incident is under investigation.
A New York City mother is outraged after she says her child's online classroom was hacked on the first day of remote orientation, with the hackers disrupting the class with pictures and pornography.
Devon Morales took to Twitter to vent her frustrations Wednesday morning. She said it was within five minutes of her daughter's first day of classes that the disturbing images starting coming.
"Several 'students' have hijacked the meeting, the first posting Trump pics, and then someone streamed PORN!!" the irate mother tweeted just before noon, along with an screengrab.
Morales soon after tweeted again, directing her comment at Schools Chancellor Richard Carranza, Mayor Bill de Blasio, and the city's Department of Education, and included the hashtag #returntoschool2020.
"I'm INFURIATED. My daughter and all the other students present were sexually assaulted today," she wrote.
"No teachers should be hosting online classes without remote conference managers or IT monitoring them," Morales said in another subsequent tweet. "Intro to b------s should NOT have been part of my daughter's 6th grade curriculum. Do better!"
In response to the incident, the DOE said they are investigating what happened regarding the disruption to the class at I.S. 259 in Dyker Heights.
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"We have strict security settings for DOE-approved platforms to prevent outside parties from entering. The class was immediately taken offline, and this incident is being investigated," read a statement from DOE spokeswoman Miranda Barbot. "We will provide and necessary follow up support to the school community."
Brooklyn City Councilman Justin Brannan responded to Morales, saying "I thought we had this figured out. This is totally unacceptable and totally avoidable."
Asked about this specific incident during his Thursday briefing, where he announced a delayed in-person start for most NYC students, Mayor Bill de Blasio said he hadn't heard of it but was "troubled" by it.
Schools Chancellor Richard Carranza said the matter was under investigation. There's no evidence of an external attack, he said, but it appears someone within that school "decided not to play by the rules."
