West Virginia schools are increasing their online safety training for students to educate children on the dangers of sharing sexually explicit photographs with others.
In November, 15-year-old Kanawha County student Bryce Tate was found dead by a self-inflicted gunshot wound hours after he was targeted in an online sextortion scheme.
Predators, typically outside of the United States, coerce victims into taking and sending sexually explicit photos and videos then immediately demand payment or threaten to release the photo to the victim’s family and friends, according to the FBI. It is a financially motivated crime.
State lawmakers passed a bill in 2024 requiring public schools to implement an age-appropriate cyber security training program for children, known as the Cyber SWAT program, or Safety While Accessing Technology. The program would teach students about the long-term and unforeseen consequences of sharing sexually suggestive or sexually explicit materials and how sharing it could be connected to bullying, sextortion and human trafficking.
Sen. Laura Chapman, R-Ohio, a sponsor of the bill, said that as a mother of two, she felt compelled to make sure West Virginia students know about the risks of sending nude photos online. It could lead to sextortion, she warned.
“Kids feel like they have no options, they’re in a panic. Unfortunately, a lot of people in that situation do take their lives,” she said. “Those poor children didn’t know what to do, and probably had never heard of a situation like this.”
Prior to the legislation, the West Virginia Department of Education was already providing cyber awareness and security lessons, according to department spokesperson Christy Day. The Cyber SWAT program is a defined curriculum that has to be the same in all counties for students in third through 12th grade.
“This is an online platform designed in a game format that allows children to experience various situations, some of which are very sensitive, and answer questions as to how they should handle them. As students answer correctly, they progress through the game.” Day explained.
The bill required that each county school board implement the SWAT education program beginning with the 2025-2026 school year. Day said the app was made available within the first semester of this school year.
Language in the legislation required the SWAT education program to be based on specific learning and modeling concepts. The bill didn’t come with any new funding for the schools to implement the training.
“The non-profit organization Safe Surfin’ Foundation and the company Skyll were the vendors that could meet the requirements listed above in the legislation,” Day said. “Due to the sensitive nature of the content, several rounds of testing and revisions were necessary to provide age-appropriate content to children at both the elementary and secondary levels while also meeting the requirements of the legislation. The build and testing phase required extensive testing and revisions to ensure the game would provide the necessary learning experience within the context of mature subject matter.”
“Once this was achieved, the app was made available during the first semester of the 2025-26 school year,” she continued.
Chapman, who amended the bill to include an implementation date, hoped the program would be rolled out swiftly in hopes of preventing any future student tragedies.
She said the bill provided “a toolkit for these students who are in this situation to know where to turn, to know how to report it, to know that they themselves are not going to be in trouble.”
West Virginia lawmakers this year passed legislation banning cell phones in classrooms — an initiative requested by Gov. Patrick Morrisey. County boards of education were required to create and adopt a policy that includes whether cellphones are permitted on school grounds and what the consequence would be for students who violate the policy.
Day said West Virginia public schools “want to support communities and families in providing safe environments for children regardless of whether they are inside of or outside of the school building.”
This article originally appeared on West Virginia Watch.
West Virginia Watch is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. West Virginia Watch maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Leann Ray for questions: info@westvirginiawatch.com.
