TalkEZY

HS Students Allegedly Set Up Twitter Account To Cyberbully

WORTHINGTON, Minn. -- There used to be a time when teachers and administrators only had to worry about bullying on the playground or in the hallways at school, but with new technology, comes new problems.

It's been alleged that some high school students at Minnesota’s Worthington High School set up a Twitter account to bully other students at school.

Now school officials, as well as police, are taking action.

Whoever decided to create the Twitter account “@WHSTrojanGossip” became a hit among Worthington, Minn. high school students in a matter of just hours.

"I heard they had like, 90 tweets or so, and they hit like a lot of people that I know," said WHS student Courtney Faragher.

And it wasn't just Faragher's friends that were so-called “hit” -- explicit and derogatory statements were also made about the soon-to-be WHS senior.

"I know it's not true, and my friends do, but I don't really like it,” Faragher said. “And I don't think some people took it very well, you know?"

Worthington District 518 administrator John Landgaard said he caught wind of the account Monday morning.

"Some of the parents won't be very happy if they go and look and find out what their children are saying" Landgaard said.

He contacted police, who then contacted Twitter. By the end of the day on Monday, the account was no longer a public forum.

"We were able to gain access and see what kids were making for comments,” Landgaard said. “Of course some students were being inappropriate, some were trying to address things very appropriately, and say this is wrong to be saying these type of things”

Landgaard said he has a whole list of students who he is eager to talk to about the cyber-bullying, but that he's not the only one who should be having the conversation.

"Parents really need to step up and get involved in their kid’s life,” he said. “They need to monitor what their kids are doing; they don't want us to, but they need to.”

Currently the district doesn't know if one person or a group of people were behind the creation of the Twitter account, but that formal charges will be pursued.

For additional information, stay with NBC4 and refresh nbc4i.com.
To submit a story idea or news tip, e-mail This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .
MORE:NBC4 Local News | Local Crime News
NBC4 SPORTS:Sports News, Video
NBC4 POLITICS:Headlines, Interactives & Video

Source Website:  http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/google/bully/~3/pqmX3XkWt1c/url