A crowd of 50 teens watched a fight earlier this month outside of Greece Athena High School.
Within a couple of days, that fight, which eventually led to the suspension of several students and criminal charges against 11 individuals, was available for view by millions when it was posted on YouTube.
When Greece Police arrived on the campus on Long Pond Road, the incident was largely over. They apprehended one individual and charged him with second-degree harassment after a security guard, in an attempt to break up the melee, was injured. Police were able to identify another individual and pursued a warrant against him.
But those were all of the suspects they were able to identify as being involved in the fracas — that is until officers caught wind that the fight had been documented and posted online. The video has since been taken down but before it was, an officer watched it with school district personnel, who were able to identify the responsible parties.
"It was nice that they did it because it helped us arrest nine more of them but I think in the grander scheme of things it just stirs the pot," Greece Police Lt. Jason Helfer said.
There's a fear that someone might watch a video like it and decide to retaliate or follow suit, he said.
"Other kids watch that and it almost glorifies fights," Helfer said.
The fight which led to the charges was one of three that occurred on Athena's campus over Jan. 31 and Feb. 1. The individuals who were charged are mostly 16- and 17-year-olds, with one 18-year-old and one 19-year-old also charged. Most were current students while some were former studens. All were charged with disorderly conduct. Nine students were suspended by the school.
Helfer said reasons given for the motivation behind the fights have ranged from that they were over a girl, to a cellphone having been dropped in water, to water being splashed on several people's pants.
"We heard a rumor it was planned but none of the kids will talk to us," Helfer said.
"I wouldn't say that Greece schools are known for having brawls all the time," Helfer said. "It's just this particular one [ended up on video] and when it ends up on video it really gets people going."
"Our top two priorities at Athena: one is student safety and the other is student learning," Athena Principal Jason Gianotti said in a statement released by the district. "Fights get in the way of both of these priorities."
A crowd of 50 teens watched a fight earlier this month outside of Greece Athena High School.
Within a couple of days, that fight, which eventually led to the suspension of several students and criminal charges against 11 individuals, was available for view by millions when it was posted on YouTube.
When Greece Police arrived on the campus on Long Pond Road, the incident was largely over. They apprehended one individual and charged him with second-degree harassment after a security guard, in an attempt to break up the melee, was injured. Police were able to identify another individual and pursued a warrant against him.
But those were all of the suspects they were able to identify as being involved in the fracas — that is until officers caught wind that the fight had been documented and posted online. The video has since been taken down but before it was, an officer watched it with school district personnel, who were able to identify the responsible parties.
"It was nice that they did it because it helped us arrest nine more of them but I think in the grander scheme of things it just stirs the pot," Greece Police Lt. Jason Helfer said.
There's a fear that someone might watch a video like it and decide to retaliate or follow suit, he said.
"Other kids watch that and it almost glorifies fights," Helfer said.
The fight which led to the charges was one of three that occurred on Athena's campus over Jan. 31 and Feb. 1. The individuals who were charged are mostly 16- and 17-year-olds, with one 18-year-old and one 19-year-old also charged. Most were current students while some were former studens. All were charged with disorderly conduct. Nine students were suspended by the school.
Helfer said reasons given for the motivation behind the fights have ranged from that they were over a girl, to a cellphone having been dropped in water, to water being splashed on several people's pants.
"We heard a rumor it was planned but none of the kids will talk to us," Helfer said.
"I wouldn't say that Greece schools are known for having brawls all the time," Helfer said. "It's just this particular one [ended up on video] and when it ends up on video it really gets people going."
"Our top two priorities at Athena: one is student safety and the other is student learning," Athena Principal Jason Gianotti said in a statement released by the district. "Fights get in the way of both of these priorities."
To that end, Athena has increased its security presence at dismissal and an administrator has been assigned to the bus loop, according to the district. The district leadership team is focused on finding additional opportunities to reeducate students and prevent conflicts, according to Superintendent Barbara Deane-Williams.
"Students who choose to violate the Code of Conduct and engage in violent behavior will be suspended," she said. "In addition, it is our policy to call the police and work closely with them to curtail inappropriate behavior with legal and school consequences."
Administrators are also talking with students about how to become part of the solution. Teachers are using advisement periods to discuss the appropriate ways to respond when a student becomes aware of or witnesses a fight.
School administrators are also meeting with student spectators they have identified from the videos and speaking to them about their role in the incidents. Their parents have also been contacted and provided with the same information.
Before Facebook and Twitter and Tumblr, kids might say unflattering things about a peer by passing notes or posting fliers, according to Mike Johansson, a lecturer in the Rochester Institute of Techology's Department of Communication and a social media expert. The audience was limited and the shelf life of such comments was usually short-lived.
"There really wasn't a lot of ways in which a teenager could get in serious trouble by saying bad things or showing bad things about someone else," he said.
With one in three teens owning a smartphone, access to the Internet is just a click away at all times, Johansson said.
"Social media makes it so anyone can say anything bad," he said.
And thousands, if not millions of people, can see it.
"In the Internet age, the ability to start a firestorm is that much easier," he said.
This isn't the first video that's gone viral in Greece and led to trouble for the offenders behind it. In December, Nicholas A. Robare, 18, of Whitman Road, was charged with second-degree harassment by Greece Police after posting a video containing an alleged threat to another teen's Facebook page. And last June, the town made international news after a video of Athena Middle School students harassing 68-year-old bus monitor Karen Klein went viral. Those students were suspended for one year.
Johansson said some kids just aren't picking up on the consequences of their social media use. He said it is incumbent for parents to talk to their children about policies and expectations of Internet use and that videos and statuses posted today could affect their child's chance at getting into college or finding a job tomorrow.
"The bottom line has to be, 'Don't ever, ever put anything online that you don't want the world to see,'" Johansson said.
