Hundreds of students at an Upstate high school have signed a petition pushing to get their teacher back after a sexy picture taken from the teacher's cellphone was shared, leading to her resignation.

Teacher Leigh Anne Arthur said she left her phone on her desk Monday while she was patrolling a hallway in the Career and Technology Center at Union County High School during a class change.

To see an interview with Arthur, click here.

A 16-year-old boy took her phone, and with his own phone took pictures of an image on Arthur's phone of her in a sexy pose.  Arthur said she took the picture to send to her husband for Valentine's Day.

The boy shared the picture through text messages and social media, according to Union County School District interim superintendent David Eubanks.

Eubanks said Arthur was in the wrong because her phone was unlocked and she made the inappropriate picture available to her students. 

Arthur said she feels that the student should be held responsible for his actions.

She said the student knows right from wrong, "He had the ultimate decision to take pictures of my pictures and he had the ultimate decision to send them out."

She said, "He had to hit my apps button and to open up all my apps and then open my gallery."

Students started an ipetition that says: "Leigh Anne Arthur is the victim of a blatant attack of her privacy. Personal photographs were illegally obtained by a student and were sent to other students in the school (Union County High).

"After being escorted off of school property, we (the students) are left to believe that she has been forced to, or given little choice but to resign. Mrs. Arthur has not only shown tremendous dedication to her students, but also the mechatronics program itself, often reaching out to local businesses and colleges to get materials that would not normally be available for the class.

"With that being said, the student(s) responsible have not received any sort of punishment. The circumstances in which Mrs. Arthur was let go (are) unacceptable, and must be corrected. We strongly urge you to sign and share this petition."

As of 10 a.m. Wednesday, the petition had nearly 1,200 signatures.

Arthur said she is not sure that she would want to resume her position teaching mechatronics -- mechanical engineering, electrical engineering and computer programming -- even if it were offered to her.

She said she knows who the student is, and she forgives him.

"He's 16," she said. "He's going to make stupid decisions.  We all make stupid decisions when we're 16."

The Union County Sheriff's Office is now investigating. Eubanks said the office will determine whether the student is charged.

Arthur said on Wednesday that four 5-inch-by-7-inch color hard copies of the pictures were placed in her mailbox. She said one had a handwritten message to her on the back of it. 

She called the Sheriff's Office, and an investigation is underway.