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Parents started asking questions. School districts started paying attention. And now, picture day at schools across the country is being canceled or reviewed.The reason traces back to Leon Black, the billionaire co-founder of Apollo Global Management. Apollo owns Shutterfly, and Shutterfly owns Lifetouch, the biggest school photography company in America. Black has been named extensively in the Epstein files for his financial ties to the convicted s*x offender and for multiple allegations of s*xual assault that he has denied. When the Justice Department released more than 3.5 million pages of Epstein-related documents in January, people started connecting dots.When you dig through those thousands of pages, Lifetouch's name shows up one time. A $106.70 debit card payment from someone connected to the Epstein death investigation.But that hasn't stopped the reaction on the ground. Clifton Public Schools in New Jersey told parents this week that while no evidence of wrongdoing has been presented, they are reviewing the matter "carefully and transparently." Prescott Valley Charter School in Arizona canceled its picture days "out of an abundance of caution." Schools in California and Utah are doing the same.Lifetouch has pushed back hard. CEO Ken Murphy called the rumors a "sea of misinformation" in a public statement. He emphasized that Apollo is not involved in day-to-day operations and that no Apollo employee has ever had access to student images. The company says it complies with federal privacy laws including FERPA and was the first school photography company to sign a voluntary privacy pledge. For 15 years, it has partnered with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children to provide SmileSafe photo ID cards to families.None of this has stopped the petitions. Thousands of parents have signed calls for schools to cut ties. One parent told HuffPost she remains unconvinced despite the lack of evidence, saying "it's not a stretch to assume" access existed.Leon Black paid Epstein millions of dollars over years. Leon Black co-founded the company that owns Lifetouch. Lifetouch takes photos of millions of children every year and stores their names, ages, addresses, and schools. That information exists in the same corporate family as a man who chose to associate with a convicted sex trafficker for more than a decade.Parents do not need proof that something happened to question why their kids' information should stay anywhere near that chain. They do not need proof of a crime to decide the risk is not worth taking. The question alone is enough. Why trust a company whose billionaire founder was that close to that man?Schools canceling picture day are not giving in to panic. They are listening to parents who are paying attention.#Lifetouch #EpsteinFiles #SchoolSafety #ParentConcerns #StudentPrivacy