Radnor Parents Speak Out After Students' Sexual Depiction In AI Video

RADNOR TOWNSHIP, PA — The Tuesday meeting of the Radnor Township School District Policy Committee discussed bullying, harassment, acceptable use of technology policies, and artificial intelligence after Radnor High School students were depicted in an AI-generated video that included "non-consensual sexualized imagery of multiple juveniles."

A juvenile was charged with harassment in connection with the video

Tuesday's meeting was full of district parents, some of whom expressed concerns to committee members Susan Stern, Jannie Lau, and Lon Rosenblum.

District parent Luciana Librandi spoke at the meeting, saying her comments are out of "concern for student safety and desire to strengthen our district's policies in a rapidly changing world."

"Generative AI is no longer theoretical," she said. "It is accessible, powerful, and increasingly used in ways that can cause real harm, especially to minors. When AI-generated or manipulated images and videos are used to sexualize, demean, or humiliate the student, the impact is immediate and lasting. These incidents do not end when a file is deleted or a message disappears. For a teenager, the emotional and psychological effects can be profound."

Morgan Dorfman said the district's handling of its sexual harassment policy raised concerns about transparency, investigative integrity, and compliance with Title IX.

"Before any district-wide emails were sent to address concerns regarding AI-generated videos, the school had an admission from a student that AI-generated sexualized images of minors had been created and the evidence was destroyed," she said. "Yet those facts were not disclosed in any of the district's emails regarding this incident. Instead, they minimized the conduct and framed the situation in a way that obscured the seriousness of what the school already knew. Those communications also raise an important question. Why were district emails signed by law enforcement in this case when serious safety communications in the past were not?"

Adam Dorfman said he was there as a "confused parent."

"What good are laws if they are not enforced? What good are policies if they are not followed? And most importantly, what message are we sending to our children," he asked the committee. "Students reported something so disturbing that they felt compelled to tell the adults in the room. That matters. When children come forward, they're doing exactly what we teach them to do. Speak up, trust adults, ask for help. What they learn next is trouble. Instead of protection, they experience belay. Instead of accountability, minimization. Instead of safety, silence."

"If we're going to have all these policies and all these laws and we're not going to enforce them and there are going to be no consequences for these students, that's something I strongly urge the board to look at and to reconsider and to understand what that message is sending to all of our students," Morgan Dorfman said.

Audrey Greenberg submitted her comments virtually, and said communication from the district on Jan. 16 and the joint press release from the District Attorney’s Office and Radnor Police Department on Jan. 23 were inconsistent, noting that the two statements cannot reasonably be reconciled.

"After reading the Jan. 16 email from the school and the Jan. 23 press release, many parents have come to incorrect conclusions," she said. "Some believe their charges were correct. Others believe the conduct was benign. That level of confusion in a matter involving ongoing student safety and criminal conduct is unacceptable, especially since it was entirely avoidable and is easily remedied."

She went on to ask the board and administration to send a district-wide update that provides the community with the official law enforcement statement without "spin, reinterpretation, or minimization of the criminal activity."

"We, like all of you, are learning that that nexus between what happens out away from school and how it can come into school and impact our students is one that is becoming more present, more pertinent, more frequent, potentially, as technology grows," Stern said. "I can only just say apologies in advance that we didn't already know that, and as we look to make changes, or that we didn't, I didn't know it would happen this quickly."

The district defines bullying as "an intentional electronic, written, verbal or physical act or series of acts directed at another student or students, which occurs in a school setting that is severe, persistent or pervasive and has the effect of doing any of ... substantially interfering with a student’s education ... creating a threatening environment ... [and] substantially disrupting the orderly operation of the school." According to the policy, a "school setting" can also include any other "location (on or away from school property) where the District has jurisdiction over a student's conduct."

That includes when the conduct "materially and substantially disrupts the operations of the school, or the administration reasonably anticipates that the expression or conduct is likely to materially and substantially disrupt the operations of the school, and when the conduct "has a direct nexus/connection to attendance at school or a school-sponsored activity," per district policy.

Lau said she thinks bullying and harassment happen more often off Radnor campuses, saying students are not supposed to be on their phones during the school day.

Stern said the board should be careful when enacting policies that cover behavior outside of school.

"That could become very burdensome and problematic," she said. " I do think that we have to be careful to not overextend our authority beyond school property."

However, Stern said the existing policies do not include how to handle possible discipline for student behavior that violates the bullying or harassment policies while off campus.

"Oftentimes things that do happen with students off campus do affect their school day because they're there for the majority of their time, their waking hours," Rosenblum said. "But I guess we have to be careful in the language because there is a point where we do have to turn it over to law enforcement where the repercussions are past our jurisdiction."

Lau commented on the policy's throwaway line about cyberbullying.

"I think this policy is begging for a definition of cyberbullying," she said. "We're relying on the word 'electronic' to do a whole lot of work here. It does read a little bit to me as stale just to rely on the word 'electronic.' It doesn't even contemplate digital or social media, right?"

She suggested the district use the state's definition of cyberbullying to update its own definition of the term and specifically mentioned Act 125 of 2024, which includes language generative sexual depictions of individuals.

As for harassment, Lau said she reads the language as allowing the district to enforce the policy whenever a student's actions interfere with another student's educational performance.

"That's enough. That's how we have jurisdiction and purview," she said, garnering applause from those in attendance.

The committee will continue to discuss these policies at its March 10 meeting, which will take place at 7 p.m. in the Radnor Township School District Administration Building, 135 S. Wayne Ave. in Wayne.

Watch the full meeting below:

Editor's note: A previous version of this story included an incorrect spelling of Luciana Librandi's name. Patch regrets the error.