Four Guilderland High School students have been suspended for posting a video to YouTube consisting of a rap song detailing alleged sexual encounters of students in the school.
High School Principal Thomas Lutsic said school officials were notified about the video on Tuesday, Nov. 12, “through various sources.” The video, titled “Guilderland Sophomore Rap,” featured an explicit rap song primarily describing alleged sexual activities of various students by name. District officials contacted YouTube Tuesday to remove a video, but the user had apparently removed it from the website later that day.
School officials said the exact motive or reasoning behind the students posting the video was not readily apparent.
“I don’t think there was a concrete explanation of why it happened and why they did it,” Lutsic said. “All indicated that it was a bad mistake.”
All four suspended students were not sophomores, Lutsic said, but are boys attending the high school.
The district declined to disclose any further identifying information. Superintendent Marie Wiles said she did not want to identify the suspended students “in any way at this point.”
Suspended students are required to have a superintendent’s hearing within five days of their suspension, which will determine the full scope of disciplinary action.
The district spoke to the parents of the suspended students, and Wiles said there has been no push back from those parents regarding the suspensions.
“Put yourself in the role of a parent and think about how you would feel after hearing something like this, so it is mixed emotion,” Lutsic said.
Since the video was posted online Monday when school was not in session for Veterans Day, several parents had already contacted the Guilderland Police Department about it, according to Lutsic.
Wiles said police may be conducting their own investigation, but it would be separate from the school’s investigation.
“We frame this in the context of the Guilderland Code of Conduct,” she said. “(Police) have other laws and rules they need to follow up.”
Song unleashed on students
The description for the YouTube video posted by the user “Anon Guild” read, “Guilderland 2016 is a slut fest.” The video was an audio clip set to a picture of the Guilderland High School entrance sign. It was the only video that account had posted to YouTube.
Before the video was removed it had more than 1,550 views, with approximately 30 “thumbs up” and 19 “thumbs down” votes from viewers.
Wiles said she was appalled by the content of the song.
“Children were mentioned by name and in a manner that was highly inappropriate and hurtful,” Wiles said. “I was stunned by the graphic and obscene nature of the comments made. … The comments were shocking and insulting.”
There were “a number of students” called out by name in the video, Lutsic said, with some students mentioned “not very much at all” and others more extensively.
Lutsic said all of the students named were sophomores, along with “the sophomore class as a whole” being mentioned. Support services have been offered to all those students.
“We had our counseling department and social workers talk to all of the students that had been mentioned on there, and many parents have been contacted, and some parents have contacted us also,” Lutsic said.
Lutsic on Tuesday sent a letter to parents about the incident.
“We take very seriously our responsibility to provide a safe learning environment for our students,” Lutsic said in the letter. “Bullying and harassment, such as the kind displayed in the audio clip, violates the Guilderland Central School District Code of Conduct and will not be tolerated.”
Lutsic said the high school does its “best to encourage an atmosphere of respect and consideration.” He said even if the rap was posted as a “prank,” it’s a form cyberbullying that could be harmful to others.
“As with any sort of bullying or harassment, there is undoubtedly a resulting negative impact on the entire school community,” Lutsic said in the letter.
Wiles said the district has heard from some parents regarding the video, mostly of named students, and they expressed “concern, dismay and anger.”
Lutsic encouraged parents to talk to their children about the situation and stress the importance of “being a good digital citizen.”
Wiles said the school plans to turn the incident into a learning experience for students.
“We are a school, and ultimately our job is to turn all experiences into learning experiences,” Wiles said. “These life lessons are harder and they are messier. We will turn this into a positive. What that will look like, today we can’t say.”
Fostering a positive learning environment
Wiles said the school has regular programs and training for students on being “good digital citizens,” along with anti-bullying initiatives.
“We focus on building a strong community every single day through all of the things we do,” Wiles said. “It is part of our culture to try to develop good citizens, digital or otherwise.”
Wiles said one of the district’s most successful programs was when John Halligan visited the district a couple of years ago to talk about the impact cyberbullying had on his son, Ryan.
Halligan’s 13-year-old son committed suicide in October 2003 after fellow students “ridiculed and humiliated” him at school and online. Halligan spearheaded the Vermont Bully Prevention law, which was signed into law months after Ryan’s death.
Lutsic added the school has a community enhancement committee, participates in National Coalition Building Institute programming that has trainers work with students to promote “diversity and acceptance,” and each year starts with an assembly on the Dignity for All Students Act requirements.
Parents and students also sign off that they understand what is in the school’s Code of Conduct, he said.
He said the district frequently warns students once something is posted digitally it is often “there for good.”
“More and more employers and other people … are checking those types of things,” Lutsic said, “so they have to be really conscious of it from their own perspective, as well as how they treat something else.”
The district is “always” evaluating its anti-bullying initiatives, he said, to see if there is something it could do better or differently to be more effective.
“An incident like this definitely causes us to reflect on that,” he said.
Wiles echoed Lutsic’s remarks and said the incident makes the issue of cyberbullying more “poignant and urgent,” but the school regularly addresses the issue.
“It is an ongoing work that we do,” she said.