photo by: Shelley Hanson

Steenrod Elementary School Principal Michelle Dietrich speaks to Ohio County Board of Education members during their Monday Meeting about her school being named a West Virginia Blue Ribbon School of Excellence.

WHEELING — Ohio County Schools is taking steps to begin educating students about “sextortion,” a topic in the news recently after a West Virginia student committed suicide after possibly being a victim of the illegal online act.

“It’s very, very sad the things that are happening to our children,” Superintendent Kim Miller said during Monday’s board of education meeting. “The Ohio County Schools Safety Committee and the Wheeling Police Department are currently working on adding information to an AI policy as well as providing education and creating an informational campaign.

“It’s a real thing for our kids and it’s very sad to see that something like this happened. This is so close to hitting home. We applaud the safety committee for moving in that direction and hopefully we can turn that out soon.”

A member of the committee noted their goal was to have the informational campaign ready when students returned from Thanksgiving break.

According to published reports, 15-year-old Bryce Tate, a Nitro High School student, died after intentionally shooting himself on Nov. 6.

Kanawha County Sheriff’s Department investigators believe that Tate was a victim of “sextortion,” which is when someone asks for nude photos of you and then after the photos are sent, the person says they are going to make the photos public if money is not sent. In Tate’s case, just a few hours had passed between the time he was first contacted and when he committed suicide. It appears the conversation was still happening when he took his life.

The case is now being investigated by the FBI.

In other matters, the board celebrated Steenrod Elementary School being named a West Virginia Blue Ribbon School of Excellence. It was noted the road to being named a Blue Ribbon school involved much work by the school’s staff and principal to complete the required documentation along with answering nine essay questions.

The board also unanimously approved a policy regarding a school-based health center and dental clinic at Madison Elementary School. The clinic will be run by WVU Medicine.