MARIETTA - PTA leader Karen Hallacy on Monday urged Cobb's Legislative Delegation to downgrade "sexting" from a felony to a misdemeanor charge for minors.

"Sexting is a practice where students or anybody takes pictures - nude pictures - on their cell phones and texts them to each other, and in this state, that is a felony if a child is engaged in that," said Hallacy, who is second vice president of Georgia PTA and acting legislative chair.

"It's a felony at 17, and 17-year-olds, just like any student, engage in inappropriate behavior. So what we want is for sexting between minors to be a misdemeanor. That's the goal," she said.

While the age of consent for sex in Georgia is 16, sexting by minors is considered child pornography and is covered by a different law. So if two 17-year-olds take nude pictures of each other, they would both be guilty of possession of child pornography and charged as adults, she said.

"Kids sometimes act without thinking of the consequences," she said. "In this case, not knowing the consequences could have lifelong repercussions if they are charged with a felony. PTA hopes that this particular crime is changed to a misdemeanor."

Cobb School District spokesman Jay Dillon said he first heard about sexting last year. He confirmed that it does exist in Cobb schools, but said it was "very infrequent." Moreover, he said he was not aware of a case where a student was charged with a felony in Cobb.

"It is a problem across the country," Hallacy said. "Who would have thought 10 years ago that anybody would do this? Are we seeing a huge volume of it? No, because most kids don't get caught. That's the hard thing."

According to a survey by the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy, 20 percent of teenagers ages 13 to 19 said they sent or posted nude or semi-nude pictures or videos of themselves.

Hallacy said students need to know the repercussions of participating in that, as well as other illegal actions.

To help educate students, Fulton County has approved using J. Tom Morgan's book "Ignorance is no Defense" for use in high school health classes, she said.

"That book details laws that teenagers should know about. Our hope is that Cobb - and ultimately all of Georgia - adopts similar support. We believe that every child should be aware of the laws of Georgia, particularly those that they might otherwise unwittingly break," she said.

Hallacy said she will be piloting a small lesson about state laws in Dodgen Middle School's social studies class next semester.

State Sen. John Wiles (R-Kennesaw), chairman of the Cobb delegation, said he needs to study the subject before deciding what to do.

"I want to talk to some people and see if what they're saying is true," Wiles said.

Dillon said the school district is preparing to provide middle and high school students, upon their return from the Christmas break, literature to educate them on Internet safety. School counselors, meantime, already educate middle and high school students on the dangers of sexting, telling them that the photos they send their girlfriend or boyfriend have the potential to end up on the Internet.