Fresno Unified Superintendent Michael Hanson admits to using Cyber Dust privacy app

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- Secretive conversations could be catching up with Fresno Unified. Superintendent Michael Hanson has admitted to using an app called, "Cyber Dust."

The app is designed to conceal text messages between users and delete them, within seconds. Hanson says he used it along with 3 other senior staff members at the school district.

"We tried to see if it was something that would allow us to communicate differently in a more efficient way and it wasn't," Hanson added.

He says the app was used to send 10 to 12 messages in a 3 week period and then the app was deleted.

Hanson explained, "Just found it to be cumbersome, not helpful and not useful so we stopped using it."

Some people aren't buying the explanation. Mark Arax is one of them. He's also the journalist who exposed the school district's use of the app.

Arax said, "It's really disturbing that a public school district would seek an application that keeps the public in the dark... scary stuff."

Hanson says he doesn't remember what messages were sent through the app. It also isn't clear whether he knew what it was designed for, before downloading it. Questions without answers and it's leaving some with a sense of distrust.

"If its whole mode of operation is secrecy behind closed doors, then we're not getting honest answers about anything, their education, test scores, truancy... you can't believe anything Fresno Unified tells us," Arax said.