What an area school district is doing after an inappropriate book was shared on student devices

PENN HILLS, Pa. — Last week, many parents in the Penn Hills School District learned an inappropriate e-book was shared on district-issued devices.

Penn Hills parents were shocked when they found an ebook titled “Diddy Watermelon’s Wild Baby Oil Bash.” The eBook was uploaded through a reading app, “eSpark,” which is installed on students’ district-issued devices. The content ignited a fury of outraged social media posts.

In one community Facebook group, parents left comments ranging from outrage to concern and questioned how the content was uploaded to the platform and missed by the district.

When Channel 11 News reached out to the district, we learned where the content came from, how it was missed, and the steps taken to remove the book.

Superintendent Dr. John Mozzocio told us in part:

“We learned an account belonging to an elementary student was used to create the content in question. Only six (6) other accounts accessed the content, and we are in the process of contacting those families. While the district monitors all district-issued computers and device access, it is eSpark’s filtering algorithm that did not flag this content as inappropriate.”

The app allows students to create and upload their original content, but the district told us at this time they are unsure if a student or family member uploaded this e-book making light of the investigation into Sean “Diddy” Combs.

The district confirmed that as of Monday afternoon the book and app have been removed from all district-issued devices, and a source close to Penn Hills Schools told us that before this incident the district had not planned to renew their contract with the technology program for reasons like this one.

The CEO of eSpark issued a statement about the incident, apologizing for what happened and laying out steps to make sure it never happens again. The full statement is in the below document.

The full statement from Penn Hills School District is below:

On the evening of Friday, February 7 district leadership learned about an issue with the eSpark reading app displaying inappropriate content. Once we discovered this issue, we immediately took action by having our Technology Department shut down the app. Additionally, we are reviewing our agreement with eSpark.

In the course of our investigation, we learned an account belonging to an elementary student was used to create the content in question. Only six (6) other accounts accessed the content and we are in the process of contacting those families. While the district monitors all district-issued computer and device access, it is eSpark’s filtering algorithm that did not flag this content as inappropriate.

Incidents such as this are not taken lightly, and we are working to hold eSpark accountable. Our technology partners must be responsible when working with young learners and their families.

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