Suspended Orange County high school teacher resigns after porn alleged in class
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Cedar Ridge teacher suspended with pay as district investigates.
- Parent reports pornographic slide shown to freshman; others seek answers.
- District declines to confirm details as community seeks transparency.
A Cedar Ridge High School teacher has resigned after being suspended while the district looked into student allegations that a pornographic image was shown in class, a district official said.
Parents, who did not want to be named because of retaliation fears, told The News & Observer on Friday that the teacher began showing a slide presentation of snowmen to his students Thursday morning.
But the third image on the screen had naked adults that the parents said their students told them were engaged in a sex act.
Orange County Schools district spokesman Kevin Smith confirmed the teacher had been suspended with pay while an investigation was being conducted. On Saturday afternoon, Smith said in an email that the teacher resigned, effective Friday.
Smith declined to comment on the parents’ account or say whether the teacher intentionally showed the image to his students. It’s not clear whether the district is continuing its investigation.
“I can tell you that the administration is aware. The school administration is aware, and there is currently an investigation,” Smith said.
Parents started contacting each other about what happened Thursday night, said the parents who reached out to The N&O. They are angry that the district is not being transparent about what happened, they said.
Smith said he does not have any information about whether school or district officials will send out information to families about the incident or the investigation.
The N&O’s attempts to reach the teacher by phone and social media messaging on Friday were unsuccessful. .
What district policy says
It is also not clear whether the teacher was using his personal laptop or one provided to him by the district.
District policy prohibits the use of school laptops for intentionally viewing, sending or receiving, creating, accessing, downloading, storing, printing or transmitting pornographic material. It also notes that the district uses software to block and filter Internet access to obscene materials and artificial intelligence to “detect inappropriate use of technological resources.”
State law also prohibits viewing pornography on public school networks and devices.
OCS district policy says employee violations can result in dismissal and, in some cases, criminal prosecution.
This story was originally published February 6, 2026 at 12:49 PM.
