Police, Lakeview school officials investigate Facebook page

April 16, 2013 at 9:12a.m.

CORTLAND

The Cortland Police Department suspects that an adult created a phony Facebook page for a female teacher at Lakeview High School, then “friended” high school students and adults and posted possibly threatening remarks.

The phony page apparently was intended to harass the teacher and contained comments that could be considered threatening, Cortland Detective David Morris said.

But when six to 12 Lakeview students were drawn into the phony page, it caused concern among school officials, who say they would prefer that students avoid Facebook.

“We’ve interviewed some of our students, and some say they’ve moved on” from Facebook, said Rich Stevens, Lakeview High School principal. “We’d like kids just to not use Facebook at all.”

Stevens said he realizes that school officials can’t control what students do on social media web sites, but the kids’ online activities “spill over” into the school when unkind remarks show up there.