From the THV11 Newsroom:
CABOT, Ark. – The company that schools across the state of Arkansas use for picture day is under fire for alleged ties to deceased sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
There’s no evidence that Lifetouch, a school and family picture service, was involved with Epstein as a company.
However, a man connected to Lifetouch’s parent company was leading multiple school districts in the state to sever ties with Lifetouch, and one parent in Cabot to start a petition for Cabot schools to drop the service.
“To me, if there’s any financial ties to someone who has hurt children, then an investigation should take place, said Hannah Kirkpatrick, the parent.
There are financial ties between Lifetouch and Epstein, but only loose ones.
Lifetouch is owned by parent company Shutterfly, which is under investment firm Apollo Global Management, formerly owned by Leon Black.
Black is an investor who appears in the Epstein files thousands of times and even resigned from Apollo in 2021 due to his ties to the disgraced financier.
Kirkpatrick said that’s unacceptable, and she started an online petition imploring Cabot schools to cancel all contracts with the company.
The petition has achieved modest success with over 240 signatures as of Friday, and change.org shows that most of them come from Cabot addresses.
“Given that other schools are starting to sever their ties, and the background … these are our children,” Kirkpatrick said. “They’re in school, and we should do everything we can to keep them safe.”
Other Arkansas school districts have severed ties with Lifetouch, like Mount Ida and Horatio, as well as schools like Morrilton High School.
“The safety of our students and faculty is of the utmost importance to Mount Ida Schools,” Ann Gardner, Superintendent of Mount Ida Schools, said in an online statement. “For this reason, Lifetouch Photography services will cease until further notice.”
It’s been happening across the country, prompting Lifetouch to issue a lengthy statement on its website.
In it, it stated that Lifetouch has never provided images to any third party, and nobody at the investment firm that owns their parent company ever had access to photos.
“Lifetouch does not – and has never provided – images to any third party, Lifetouch Group CEO Ken Murphy said in the statement. “Neither Apollo nor its funds are involved in the day-to-day operations of Lifetouch, and therefore no one employed by Apollo has ever had access to any student images.”
Despite that statement, Kirkpatrick isn’t convinced.
“They’re just telling us it’s against their policy,” Kirkpatrick said. “Which, of course, it’s against their policy. So, to me, that wasn’t enough.”
Across the country, some have said this is an opportunity to shift to local photography companies.
It’s worth noting that this would likely be tougher in a large district like Cabot than in a smaller one like Mount Ida, but Kirkpatrick likes the idea.
“We can pump into our local economy now,” Kirkpatrick said. “And hire somebody local to take pictures, build businesses inside our city … this is a perfect opportunity to do that.”
Lifetouch’s statement goes on to mention that while Black is named in the files, Lifetouch as a company never is.
Further, Apollo Global Management announced its acquisition of Shutterfly in June 2019 and didn’t complete it until September of that year; one month after Epstein was already dead.
THV11 reached out to Cabot Schools for comment, but they declined to provide an official statement.
The full statement from Lifetouch Group CEO Ken Murphy can be accessed below:
“At Lifetouch, student safety goes beyond the camera lens. As a trusted partner to schools for 90 years, we’re committed to protecting the privacy and personal information of every student we serve.
When Lifetouch photographers take your student’s picture, that image is safeguarded for families and schools only, with no exceptions.
Lifetouch does not – and has never provided – images to any third party.
Amidst a sea of misinformation, here are the facts:
Lifetouch images are shared only for the purposes of school records and to allow parents or guardians to purchase them. Additionally, as part of our decades long relationship with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, Lifetouch prints SmileSafe cards free of charge for each student we photograph that families can use with law enforcement if a child goes missing.
Lifetouch follows all applicable federal, state, and local data privacy laws, including the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA). In fact, Lifetouch was the first school photography company to sign a voluntary and enforceable privacy pledgereaffirming our deep commitment to protecting school communities.
Lifetouch never shares, sells, or licenses student images to train AI models, including large language models, or facial recognition technology.? Lifetouch has never provided images for such purposes to any other third party.
Funds managed by subsidiaries of Apollo Global Management are investors in Shutterfly, the parent company of Lifetouch. Neither Apollo nor its funds are involved in the day-to-day operations of Lifetouch and therefore no one employed by Apollo has ever had access to any student images.
Lifetouch is not named in the Epstein files. The documents contain no allegations that Lifetouch itself was involved in, or that student photos were used in, any illicit activities.
We value the trust you put in us to safeguard your students’ images, and we are proud to help families across the country preserve these milestone memories.”
This story was originally published by THV11 in Little Rock.
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