Boone County families received a new safety notice Sept. 1 as the district began complying with a Kentucky law that requires schools to educate parents about sextortion.
The district's notice, signed by Kim Best, assistant superintendent of operations and district school safety coordinator, explains what sextortion is, how offenders target young people and where families can get help removing explicit images from the internet.
The notice stems from Senate Bill 73, which the Kentucky General Assembly passed during its 2025 session. The law created a new statute, KRS 531.125, and took effect June 27, 2025. It requires every Kentucky school district to send parents information about sexual extortion and to display posters in schools with resources for reporting.
SB 73 also stiffens penalties for offenders and expands legal remedies for victims, according to the Kentucky General Assembly's news release archive. The Senate Judiciary Committee advanced the bill 7-0, and both chambers passed it.
What the notice tells parents
Sexual extortion occurs when someone threatens another person with violence, harm to reputation or distribution of explicit material to coerce them into sexual conduct, providing explicit content, handing over money or doing anything against their will. Offenders often manipulate or groom young people into sharing images and then scare them into compliance, the notice states.
Best urged parents to contact school or district staff with questions.
The notice points families to two free resources from the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC):
- Take It Down at takeitdown.ncmec.org, a tool that can help remove or stop the sharing of nude or sexually explicit images of anyone under 18.
- "What Parents Should Know About Sextortion" tip sheet at missingkids.org.
Parents can also call NCMEC's 24/7 hotline at 1-800-THE-LOST (1-800-843-5678).
National sextortion reports
NCMEC reported June 25 that it received more than 50,000 reports of financially motivated sextortion in 2025, averaging 137 per day. That was up from more than 36,000 reports in 2024. When the relationship to the victim was known, 94% of reports came from the child victim or a parent.
Schools across the district will display posters listing reporting resources, as the law requires. The notice did not specify a deadline for poster installation or any follow-up action date for families.
