Cellphone sex video shared online prompts discipline

COLUMBUS SCHOOLS

A cellphone video that authorities say was shot by a South High School student during class and might have depicted a sex act has prompted Columbus City Schools to contact police and Franklin County Children Services.

The incident occurred Monday during a class that was overseen by a substitute teacher who will no longer work in the district, said Scott Varner, district spokesman.

Varner declined to discuss the content of the video, but a local television station said it showed a 16- year- old girl simulating — or performing — oral sex on a 16-year-old boy as other students laugh.

The video was posted to social media and shared with multiple account holders, including several students during class, according to a letter sent home to parents Wednesday from South High Principal Edmund Baker. The district has reported the video and requested that it be removed from social- media sites where it was posted.

“Please know we take this issue very seriously. I have spoken with our students about the inappropriateness of the video and we have taken steps to make sure that situations of this nature will not occur again,” Baker said in his letter.

Parents of the students involved were contacted and “appropriate disciplinary action” was taken, Varner said. The district will not reveal the specific disciplinary measures.

Columbus police might take further action concerning the sharing of the video — including leveling felony charges. In cases involving videos, charges would depend on whether minors are involved and genitalia can be seen, said Sgt. Terry McConnell, supervisor of the Police Division’s second- shift sexual- assault unit.

Baker, in his letter to parents, urged them to discuss with their children that information and video posted online will exist forever. He also asked that children be advised not to be hurtful toward others and that inappropriate posts should be reported.

“We’re trying to help them understand the consequences of their actions,” Varner said. “Everybody needs to think twice about what you post online.”