Five Students use Facebook to Bully Others

DIXON - School leaders found out about the page earlier this week, and they've already identified five people involved, but the damage has already been done.

It's usually done out of sight and off school grounds, but cyber bullying leaves a lasting impression.

"I couldn't believe the kids actually did it," said concerned Dixon parent Sue Hohlen.

Tuesday morning, Dixon Superintendent Michael Juenger was in a meeting when he heard of the Facebook page "Secrets of the Society," he quickly took action.

"I get up and left immediately and contacted our high school principal to make sure if he didn't already know that he did know," said Juenger.

Students had posted hate messages and vulgar comments on the Facebook page, one called a classmate "cute in pictures, ugly in person."

"Some of our students had been identified as being written about on the site," said Juenger.

Juenger says the district sent out an alert to parents Tuesday night letting them know about the page and that they were investigating it's creator.

"It's pretty dangerous," said Hohlen.  "And it's caused a lot of problems for some of the kids that were on there, they've been pretty upset, and it's caused other personal issues for them."

The districts investigation identified five people responsible for the content of the "Secrets of the Society" page, three current students and two who no longer attend the high school.

But it wasn't just hate messages on the page.  People began posting other comments, calling out the creators and demanding the page come down.

"You don't know what else is going on in their homes or their lives, or what is happening with them," said Hohlen.  "So, it's really bad to judge other people."

Superintendent Juenger says bullying isn't a major problem in Dixon, but when it does happens it's not tolerated.

"It's a serious problem in the country, and it has to be addressed," said Juenger.

The school district has made their counselors available to speak with students about the page.

Since much of the activity on the site didn't take place on school equipment or during school hours, Superintendent Juenger says they are stilling deciding what their next step will be with those involved.

Dixon school leaders are also working with Facebook to have the site permanently taken off the web.