Guilderland

Four Guilderland High School students have been suspended in connection with an offensive rap song posted to YouTube on Monday.

School officials announced the suspensions at a news conference Wednesday, a day after high school Principal Thomas Lutsic sent home a letter to parents about the video, which was deemed bullying by school officials and police. It was removed from the video website Tuesday afternoon.

The video, titled "Guilderland sophomore rap," names multiple students and contains offensive language directed at them, as well as an image of the high school sign. In one verse, a rapper names a student and describes alleged sexual activities.

Lutsic said parents had already contacted town police about the video before school began Tuesday. Superintendent Marie Wiles said students then approached school officials about the video.

The suspended students were not named, and Wiles did not say how long those punishments would last.

Police Capt. Curtis Cox said his department's school resource officer was working with the district Wednesday to investigate any possible criminal wrongdoing. Cox said incidents similar to the video could bring harassment charges, though investigators would need to determine how, if at all, such an incident would fall within the broad definition of harassment.

Wiles said the video, which was posted while students were off Monday for Veterans Day, is a violation of school district's code of conduct.

Though bullying within schools is nothing new, cyberbullying has come to light in recent years as technology has become more readily available. Lutsic said bullying of any kind will not be tolerated. He said he has no way to gauge how pervasive cyberbullying might be within all school districts, but "as technology becomes more pervasive, misuse increases, too."

Readers and parents contacted the Times Union about the video both online and by email Wednesday.

One mother, who declined to give her name because she feared her child would be ridiculed, said she was outraged and saddened by the video, the reputation it gives the school and the hurt it inflicts on the children and parents involved.

"I truly hope we all as parents can teach all our kids to act in a more respectable manner," the mother said. "This truly needs to end, and I don't think there is one parent out there that can say their kid is truly innocent."

mhamilton@timesunion.com • 518-454-5431 • @matt_hamilton10