Home » Santa Clarita News » Education » William S. Hart Union School District » Hart District, Sheriff Investigating Valencia High Fight
Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station deputies are investigating a reported assault after an online video showed a group of alleged Hart district students beating up another student on the Valencia High campus Friday.
Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station deputies are investigating a reported assault after an online video showed a group of alleged Hart district students beating up another student on the Valencia High campus Friday.

Hart District, Sheriff Investigating Valencia High Fight

More video regarding a Valencia High fight circulated online was followed by disciplinary action for several of the students involved in “a complex altercation” that began 11 days ago, Hart district officials said Thursday.


Sponsored Articles


Don’t miss a thing. Get breaking Santa Clarita news alerts delivered right to your inbox.

“Disciplinary action has been taken against seven students based on the evidence of their actions, which violated board policy and education code,” according to a statement from Valencia High Principal John Costanzo. “The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act prohibits the school or district from disclosing specific information about any student and his or her disciplinary actions, so while the community may not be privy to the actions being taken by the school, we would like to assure everyone that action is being taken.”

A nearly four-minute video of the incident is being investigated by Valencia High, the principal assured parents in a statement.

Related: Deputies Investigating Alleged Assault Involving Hart District Students

Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station deputies are also investigating the fight, the video and the circumstances surrounding it, and the fallout from the incident already resulted in one Hart district juvenile getting arrested, officials said.

A student was arrested this week regarding threats he allegedly made after the video of the fight was posted online.

The incident reportedly began Oct. 13, officials said, and involved Valencia High students, as well as other schools, and a former Hart district student who still lives in the area.

The recorded fight took place Friday, Oct. 17, which video shows several students beating up another student in an on-campus fight.

Another video obtained by KHTS AM-1220 and SCVTV shows students provoking each other with threats and making plans “to throw hands,” but not “in front of administration,” which appears to take place shortly before the reported assault.

School administrators were contacted, as was law enforcement, officials said in response to the incident. The continued online postings have led to further investigation which is ongoing at this time.

“Social media has seen many posts that reflect only a small portion of the entire story,” Costanza said in a statement to parents.

Discipline would be assigned following a full investigation, officials said, and the state’s Education Code spells out the appropriate punishments for disciplinary infractions.

On Wednesday, a West Ranch High students was detained, cited and given a court date regarding criminal threats allegedly made in response to viewing the video online.

A petition called “Remove the assailants from the team,” was posted after the incident, and had collected more than 1,500 signatures by Wednesday afternoon.

The author addressed the petition to Valencia High School and Valencia Baseball, “because they assaulted my good friend, who is also a kindhearted and upstanding citizen.”

School officials said privacy concerns prevented them from commenting on any of the allegations made.

“The Friday night fight incident is still under active investigation,” said Deputy Josh Dubin of the Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station. “No other arrests have been made at this point.  Deputies are working closely with school staff.”

No other information about the investigation is available at this time, officials said.

Do you have a news tip? Call us at (661) 298-1220, or drop us a line at community@hometownstation.com.

 

KHTS AM 1220 - Santa Clarita Radio

Hart District, Sheriff Investigating Valencia High Fight

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

*

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

About Perry Smith

Perry Smith is a print and broadcast journalist who has won several awards for his focused, hyperlocal community coverage in several different regions of the country. In addition to five years of experience covering the Santa Clarita Valley, Smith, a San Fernando Valley native, has worked in newspapers and news websites in Los Angeles, the Northwest, the Central Valley and the South, before coming to KHTS in 2012. To contact Smith, email him at Perry@hometownstation.com.