UPDATED: RHS Principal, District 196 Responds to Parents' Pep Fest Kissing Prank (VIDEO)

had a pep fest this past Thursday, and one of the activities that took place during the pep fest is getting lots of attention.

According to RHS Principal John Wollersheim, the school usually has a pep fest at the start of the winter sports season.

At one point during last Thursday's pep fest, about 10 winter sports team captains lined up on the floor of the gym, blindfolded, and they were led to believe they were going to get a kiss from another student. However, much to their surprise they were part of a prank, and instead got kissed by their parents. 

The YouTube video of this prank has gone pretty viral, and has even been submitted to Comedy Central's Tosh.O for its Web Redemption portion of the show. 

"It was intended to be a fun little deal," Wollersheim said. "Going into it we thought it would be a a fun thing."

However, there's been a lot of negative discussion surrounding the video footage and of Rosemount High School since it surfaced after the pep fest; and it has many people wondering how ethical it was.

"I don't think [the YouTube video] represented the whole event," Wollersheim said. "It kind of raised a lot of questions and some [students] were embarrassed. We didn't see it going in the direction that it did.

"I'm responsible for everything that happens at this school. I owe those students [and parents] who were hurt or embarrassed an apology. The well being of our students is the number one concern of our school. We have a history of great pep fest assemblies and we want to continue that tradition. We don't want anything harmful to happen to our kids or our community."

"It was a mistake and they're not going to do it again," District 196 Communications Specialist Tony Taschner said. "It was not intended to come across the way it did ... it wasn't the way it's coming across."

Taschner added that he has seen or heard of other schools doing something similar in the past. 

"I don't know if the premise was a good idea, and it was probably a mistake [to begin with]," Taschner said.

Wollersheim sent out an apology statement with the school's annoucements Tuesday afternoon. 

He said, "An event that took place at our pep assembly last Thursday, December 8, has become a topic of comment in and around our school community. This activity was intended to be fun, but some found it offensive. We apologize to anyone who was offended by this activity." 

Taschner said there most likely will not be any policy changes within the district due to this event, but believes Rosemount High School will "review the process [and] practice of its pep fests and ... what they use to put them together." 

"It's a school-level decision," he said.