After receiving rape threats online, Nash high school administrators blame girls for dressing inappropriately

Nash County Central Principal Victor Ward said the school was trying to be positive and encouraging during Monday's assembly.

Posted 10:46 p.m. Sep 13, 2022 — Updated 10:51 p.m. Sep 13, 2022

Keenan Willard

, WRAL eastern North Carolina reporter

ROCKY MOUNT, N.C. — High school girls at Nash County Central say they are being harassed online through anonymous social media accounts. In response, the high school held a girls-only assembly blaming the girls for the way they dress and discouraging them from reporting it, according to audio clips obtained by WRAL News.

Parents are fuming after this meeting, saying that the school's administration is blaming girls for the boys' behavior, putting their safety at risk. They told WRAL News they're taking their concerns to the North Carolina State Board of Education.

Nash County Central Principal Victor Ward said the school was trying to be positive and encouraging during Monday's assembly.

But audio of the assembly obtained by WRAL News paints a different picture.

"Let me tell you something. If you don't have proof of who's writing it, don't come to us," one administrator said during Monday's assembly. "Because we don't have proof."

After initially defending the all-girls assembly, Ward apologized in a letter to parents after hearing audio sent to him by WRAL News.

Robert Whistler, whose daughter attends Nash Central, said social media accounts have been posting offensive messages for weeks.

"There was a survey or Google form that was posted, and the topic of the survey was overlty-sexual in nature," he said. "[It] spoke real heavily about raping freshmen girl students."

School officials told girls during Monday's assembly that the reason for the online harassment was because of the way they were dressing.

"No skin on your stomach should be showing," one administrator said.

"Save the showing of your bodies for later. Because you'll be the same one that comes to myself talking about, 'Look what they put on the central page,'" the other administrator said.

Whistler said he feels the school is victimizing young girls instead of holding the teen boys accountable.

"I'm livid," he said. "When I send my daughter out of the house, to the school, I expect that the school is going to do their utmost to not just protect her physically, but protect her emotionally."

Leaders with Nash County Public Schools told WRAL News the district was not aware of the assembly.

Ward said in a letter to parents he plans on holding an all-boys assembly later this week to address the social media posts.

In the apology letter to parents, Ward said he "understand[s] if the tone and choice of some of the words made your child feel unheard or if we were placing some sort of blame on your student."

The rest of the letter reads:

"That was not our intent. We want to empower all of our students to make good choices and to let them know they are in control of those decisions. The entire event could have been handled differently. For the rest of the school year, I will be present for all student assemblies. I want to encourage your students to talk with me directly if they feel unsafe or uncomfortable at school. Thank you for your attention in this matter."

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