School cafeteria workers suspended after posting suggestive photos on Instagram: ‘It was a joke’

A New York food service has suspended four of its cafeteria workers after photos surfaced of them posing inappropriately in the kitchen of a charter school where they work.

The photos, obtained by New York station WKBW, depict the women posing on a prep table in the kitchen of South Buffalo Charter School. In one of the photos previously posted to a fourth worker’s public Instagram account, three of the women are posing seductively on the table. In another photo, one of the workers is pictured on her knees with a fellow employee suggestively holding a peeled banana behind her.

A memo was since posted to the school’s website, in which the administration condemned the photos and announced the removal of the cafeteria workers involved.

“South Buffalo Charter School was made aware of inappropriate images posted on social media by food service workers employed by an outside vendor. The post did not contain the name or image of any student, but contained suggestive images we simply will not tolerate in our school community,” the statement reads. “South Buffalo Charter School immediately worked with the outside vendor to have the employees involved removed from South Buffalo Charter School. South Buffalo Charter School does not tolerate or condone this type of behavior, and is committed to providing a safe and nurturing educational environment for each of our students.”

The school’s principal, David Ehrle, additionally tells Yahoo Lifestyle that “those employees will certainly not be back at our school.” However, the status of their employment is up to their employers at the third-party vendor who hired them, Personal Touch Food Service.

Personal Touch did not immediately reply to Yahoo Lifestyle’s request for comment. The company’s president, Dave Cervi, told WKBW that the incident was “horrifying.”

“I can't believe anyone that works in a school, with children, would even consider doing something like that,” Cervi told the network.

He clarified that the employees are suspended until at least next week when the internal investigation is completed. The results of that investigation will determine their status of employment. However, they did surrender their ID tags from South Buffalo Charter School to Principal Ehrle.

WKBW additionally reports that the unnamed employee responsible for posting the photos, which have since been taken down, has her own children enrolled at South Buffalo Charter School. Still, she told the outlet that “it was a joke.”