School Board Members 'Stunned' by Teen Sex Video

School Board members say they were stunned to learn of that was circulated among Portsmouth Middle School students.

Three teens – two of whom are Portsmouth Middle School students – are facing charges in juvenile court in connection with the video, according to police. Two of them reportedly participated in the sex act and a third filmed it.

"I have a son about to go into middle school. Looking at my son and his friends and knowing he's going into the middle school, it just stuns me at that young age," School Board member Carol Chellman told Portsmouth Patch. "You've got to think about those really young sixth graders in a building with kids who are engaging in that kind of activity.

"It's very troubling because it's middle school," she said. "If it's high school, you sort of go, 'OK...'"

As a criminal defense attorney, Chellman said she's well aware that kids are sexually active at very young ages these days.

"It's a profoundly serious problem, not just in Portsmouth or New Hampshire, it's across the country," she said. "Kids are just much, much more sexually active. There's so many problems that flow from that. They don't have the maturity or understanding. Certain kids can be so easily manipulated. Now you can put it on the internet for the world to see in a matter of seconds. The problem is scary and serious."

School Board Chair Leslie Stevens said the board will likely discuss the matter at its next meeting on Aug. 14.

"I would imagine it will come up in the context of conversations around what we are doing to ensure we're providing enough information so that kids are making good decisions," she said. "That's one of the things we're always asking ourselves – are we doing the right thing, are we doing enough?"

But Stevens said Portsmouth middle and high schoolers already have these kinds of discussions in health class, and the schools have provided workshops with Deputy Chief of Police Corey MacDonald on the dangers of the internet and social networking sites.

"We are absolutely aware of it and trying to address it, but there's always more that can be done," she said. "I think there's a false sense of security sometimes because we live in a small town. But this happens everywhere, because the internet is everywhere."

Chellman said there's probably not a lot that the School Board can do.

"I actually see it as very much an issue of what's happening in the home and what are the parents doing," she said. "Sure, the schools should teach and do what they can do, but there's only so much the schools can do."

School Superintendent Ed McDonough agreed, and said he doesn't see any added steps being taken once school resumes after summer break.

"I don't think there's a change in terms of programming and what we do in our health classes," he said.

McDonough stressed that the incident happened in the spring, and it wasn't on school grounds.

"Our administrators worked with the families at the time, and now I think it's in juvenile court," he said. "Assistant Principal Anne Ellis did a wonderful job working with the families. Providing the support and guidance to the families was first and foremost in our mind."