F-M schools warn families after explicit AI image circulated among students

Fayetteville-Manlius schools warned families after learning that an explicit AI-generated image was created and shared within the school community, putting targeted students at emotional risk and prompting district officials to involve authorities. In a letter sent Friday, May 8, Superintendent Magda C. Parvey told families and staff that the district became aware of the incident this week and was responding to it as a serious conduct issue, not a prank.

Parvey, who became the district’s seventh superintendent on March 2, 2026, after leading Andover Public Schools in Massachusetts, said the district was working with the appropriate authorities. Officials said the image was made and circulated outside school property and outside school hours, but they also said it still violated the student Code of Conduct and carried serious consequences for the students involved. The district’s message was blunt: deepfake or AI-generated explicit images can cause real emotional harm and can also create legal exposure for the people who make or share them.

The warning comes as schools across New York are confronting a faster-moving form of harassment that can spread through a student body in minutes and leave administrators scrambling for a response. On May 6, Stanford’s Riana Pfefferkorn said AI-powered nudify apps are increasingly being used by students to create deepfake sexual images of classmates, while most schools still do not have clear policies for prevention, reporting, discipline, or victim support. That gap has left districts like Fayetteville-Manlius dealing with both the immediate harm to students and the longer-term challenge of stopping a new kind of cyberbullying before it becomes routine.

Fayetteville-Manlius is urging parents to talk with their children about the seriousness of creating or sharing sexualized images involving other people, especially when those images are used to embarrass or target classmates. The district also pointed families to its tipline and counseling contacts for students who need to report concerns or get help. District materials say Fayetteville-Manlius has a Mental Health Task Force, counseling services, and referral resources for families, along with support for students’ social-emotional development through education, activities, and training for students, parents, and staff.

The school warning also lands against a changing legal backdrop in New York. A 2023 law sponsored by Sen. Michelle Hinchey already covered intimate images created or altered by digitization, and state lawmakers later moved in the 2025 budget to criminalize AI-generated sexual content using the likeness of minors. In Onondaga County, where Fayetteville-Manlius serves families in Manlius and surrounding communities, the district’s message was clear: the technology may be new, but the damage to students is immediate, and schools are trying to respond before it spreads further.