Cherry Creek teacher with half-naked Twitter pictures put on leave
AURORA - Cherry Creek School District put a teacher on administrative leave on Tuesday after 9Wants To Know discovered a Twitter page containing half-naked photos of her and a claim of possessing marijuana on school grounds.
9Wants to Know started asking questions about the CarlyCrunkBear (@crunk_bear) Twitter account after getting a tip from a viewer Monday.
Carly McKinney, a 23-year-old math teacher at Overland High School, admitted to 9NEWS that she created the account with a friend.
The Twitter page included provocative photos along with many posts about using drugs.
One post said "Naked. Wet. Stoned." Another indicated the poster was high while grading papers. An additional post even talks about having marijuana on school property saying, "Watching a drug bust go down in the parking lot. It's funny cuz I have weed in my car in the staff parking lot."
The Twitter account also included posts about working as a teacher, apparently posted during the school day. "Instead of being productive, I've been on Twitter..." the poster professes. A post that seems to be about a student says, "Just got called Ms. McCutie. Points for being clever, however you are still jailbait."
McKinney and a friend told 9Wants to Know by phone the Twitter account was meant to be a parody. McKinney says she was unaware of some of the posts her friend was making, and the teacher claims she never had drugs on campus.
The school district says employees are trained about social media use. They are given a rule of thumb: Don't put anything on the internet that you wouldn't put on your classroom chalkboard. At the same time, teachers also have first amendment rights to free speech, especially when it comes to personal social media sites.
The CarlyCrunkBear Twitter account was pulled from public view shortly after 9Wants to Know contacted McKinney. While she answered some preliminary questions on the phone, she declined an on camera interview.