New Kensington-Arnold condemns 'vulgar' video Valley students made in school, posted online

The New Kensington-Arnold School District on Friday condemned a video it says Valley High School students created and posted on YouTube containing “inappropriate content and offensive language.”

The video has been removed and the district has started an investigation, according to a letter to district families signed by Superintendent Chris Sefcheck.

“The video that was posted has caused a great deal of anxiety, anger, frustration and disruption of school/district operations,” the letter states.

In an interview Friday, Sefcheck said the video, made at the high school, contained sexual connotations.

“The kids were doing mock interviews in the hallway asking inappropriate questions and using some vulgar language in terms that kind of made us all uncomfortable and caused a little ruckus at the school all day today,” he said.

Sefcheck said officials don’t know when the video was made but that it was posted Thursday to YouTube and was shared on social media.

“We dealt with it as early as 6:30 this morning,” he said. “Within a couple of hours, it was taken down.”

Sefcheck did not know how many times the video had been viewed before it was removed.

Sefcheck said they did not know how many students were involved. The video appeared to have been edited, making it difficult to get a full count.

Several students already have been disciplined and more will be as an investigation continues, Sefcheck said.

New Kensington police Chief Robert Deringer said the school resource officer and a detective also are investigating.

School board President Tim Beckes called the incident unfortunate and said he agrees with the district administration’s response.

“As we continue to drive our core values of integrity, compassion and respect, this is not the behavior we are looking to endorse,” he said. “It doesn’t represent what we’re trying to achieve in the district.”

Even though it was removed from YouTube, that doesn’t mean it can’t be seen somewhere online, Sefcheck said.

“No matter what media you use to post something, it’s out there,” he said. “Whether you take it down or not, people still have copies of it.”

The district’s letter asks parents to remind their children that they are responsible for their actions.

“Everybody needs to work together to educate kids from school and home as to what things can happen to them when they do stuff like this, especially at school,” Sefcheck said.