A North Polk Middle School student who posted disparaging and sexually derogatory AI-generated videos of staff and board members has lost her latest appeal to lift her yearlong suspension.
The student’s appeal for a rehearing on her out-of-school suspension went before the Iowa Board of Education during its regular meeting May 14. This is at least the second time the student and her family have tried to appeal her punishment at the state level.
E.K. — identified as such in documents — created and posted to TikTok “deepfake AI videos” of at least 15 North Polk Middle School staff and two school board members on Aug. 22, 2025, according to March 13 Iowa Board of Education appeal documents.
The 13 videos were not removed until Aug. 25, 2025 — the district’s first day of school.
Records state an “online acquaintance” helped E.K. create the deepfake videos.
A deepfake can include audio or video “manipulated by artificial intelligence (AI) technology,” according to Illinois State University. Deepfakes can “make individuals appear as though they are doing or saying something they never did.”
The student’s videos — created using photos taken from the North Polk yearbook and website — showed school personnel and officials in compromising situations, featured vulgar and sexual phrases, and alluded to pedophilia and gun violence, according to the documents.
Under a 2024 Iowa law, it is illegal to harass someone by disseminating, publishing, distributing or posting “a visual depiction showing another person in a state of full or partial nudity or engaged in a sex act that has been altered to falsely depict another person, and making penalties applicable.”
In March, the state board voted to accept an administrative law judge’s decision to dismiss the student’s appeal. The judge found E.K. — who was 13 at the time of the incident — had violated board policies, including one pertaining to anti-bullying and harassment.
Additionally, the videos were not covered by federal First Amendment-related court cases because of they caused disruptions at school and harmed staff, the judge ruled.
The suspension has been difficult for E.K., according to documents. She struggles with online school and feels “like everybody hates her, including her teachers.”
In their May 14 appeal, her mother argued her daughter has an disability that was not diagnosed before the deepfake incident, according to records.
Before the vote, Iowa Department of Education’s attorney Thomas Mayes told the board the administrative law judge had addressed the issues raised in the new appeal or the issues were not brought up before, “which is inappropriate.”
The situation is “painful to all involved,” Mayes said.
“I feel sorry for this young lady, but feeling sorry is not the legal standard,” he said.
The Iowa Board of Education voted unanimously to deny a rehearing.
The student’s mother declined to comment on the denial.
In a statement, North Polk officials deferred to public records and official proceedings.
Samantha Hernandez covers education for the Register. Reach her at (515) 851-0982 or svhernandez@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Iowa board upholds North Polk student’s suspension for deepfake video
Reporting by Samantha Hernandez, Des Moines Register / Des Moines Register
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