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The parents of an Everett middle school student say their daughter's privacy was violated when she was pressured to open her Facebook page to help in a cyber-bullying investigation. (AP file)

Teen forced by school to open Facebook page tells of bullying, harassment

BY Ursula Reutin  on March 13, 2013 @ 6:11 pm (Updated: 8:47 am - 3/14/13 )

The parents of an Everett middle school student say their daughter's privacy was violated when she was pressured to open her Facebook page to help in a cyber-bullying investigation.

Samantha Negrete, 14, was called into the vice principal's office at North Middle School and was told to log onto her Facebook account so he could get access to a picture that her friend had posted.

"I felt like I had to do it because if I didn't, I was worried he would get mad at me and yell," Negrete says.

The eighth-grader says she knew nothing about the picture. If she had, she says she would've told her friend not to post it. Now, that friend has been suspended, and kids at school have turned on Samantha, calling her a snitch.

"I'm getting bullied and harassed by a lot of people," she says. "It's hard to be at school when all this is happening."

Her mother, Connie Becerra, was never notified by the school. She says the vice principal had told her daughter he would keep it a secret.

"But the problem is when she left the office, she was not allowed to log out of her Facebook page, and when the child in question was asked to come to the office, there was Samantha's Facebook page. So word got out pretty quickly," she says.

Becerra has contacted the American Civil Liberties Union to look into the case. Attorney Linda Mangel says state and federal laws protect against unwarranted searches.

"Instead of needing to have probable cause, there's a lower standard for schools and that is they have to have reasonable suspicion that school rule or a law was violated and the search they're about to conduct will lead to evidence of that violation," Mangel says. "It has to be very specific, individualized suspicion."

In this case, Mangel says, the school administrator forced Samantha to open her Facebook page before trying other options, including going directly to the student who posted the photo first. "It was done in the most intrusive way possible, instead of the least intrusive way," Mangel says.

The Everett school district has hired an outside investigator to look into the case and is reviewing its policies on when staff can get access to students' social media accounts.

But Samantha, who is an honors student and on the wrestling, basketball and volleyball teams, says she's too scared to go back to North Middle School. Her mom understands why.

"It's taken a toll on her. They were investigating bullying but somehow this ended up with her being bullied, even though it had nothing to do with her," Becerra says.

Samantha says she can no longer trust the people at school who were supposed to protect her. "All the respect and everything I had for them, it's totally gone now," she says.

You might also be interested in:

ACLU guide to student digital rights and responsibilities in public schools

Ursula Reutin, KIRO Radio Reporter
Ursula loves to laugh and she does it with gusto. She brightens the day for everyone around her with her kindness, thoughtfulness and fun-loving nature.
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Comments (8)


  • Add A Comment

  • Cash wrote...
    Interesting...
    March 13, 2013 7:11 pm
    Sounds like the official who forced her to open her personal FB page should take a lesson in how not to bully a kid... Perhaps a misdemeanor charge of computer trespassing is order for that person as well. I can think of 100 different ways to solve the issue they had without throwing the young lady under the bus.
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  • shark75 wrote...
    This kid should get used to it...
    March 13, 2013 8:16 pm
    Our schools are the proving ground for the new nanny state. I'll bet $100 she was thrilled when Obama was re-elected. She was too young and stupid to remember when he was elected for the first time. Now she just a little older.........
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  • roomtemp wrote...
    Meh...
    March 13, 2013 10:07 pm
    Grow a spine... I would have told the vice principal to go pound sand.

    Facebook and the rest of the 'social media' sites have got nothing to do with learning. The domains should be completely blocked on the school's routers as a matter of policy.

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  • Rikki Doxx wrote...
    How To Prevent This Invasion Of Privacy
    March 14, 2013 6:53 am
    Oh Wow, just Wow, I forgot my password!
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • O-town listener wrote...
    How To Prevent This Invasion Of Privacy
    March 14, 2013 8:51 am
    Talk to your kids - tell them if anyone at school tries to force them into anything they are uncomfortable with to demand they call your parents before doing anything and that you will hear them out and never be mad at them for feeling uncomfortable. One of my fond memories is getting suspended from high school for standing up to a teacher - parents picked me up, heard my side of the story, and took me out to dinner that night as a reward.
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  • The Dude Abides wrote...
    Oh Boo Hoo
    March 14, 2013 9:48 am
    Last time I checked, minors do not have any rights to privacy outside of their physical person. I'm not saying that the teachers handled the situation perfectly, but they had every right to search her FB if they had suspicions that she was involved in bullying or knew someone who was involved. Just think, we would all be up in arms saying that they didn't do enough if the bullied kid went nuts and decided to shoot up the school with an AK.

    Again, I think the school could have handled this better (like having the parents present when they went through her page), but we all have to at least respect the fact that they're trying their damnedest to prevent a possible school tragedy. I like to think that it's comparable to a football player just yards away from scoring a TD, only to fumble the ball before he crosses the goalline. Close, but not quite there.

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  • Relevant13 wrote...
    Dude.....
    March 14, 2013 1:48 pm
    Unless the school had proof that this student was using school computers or network to access their FB page to do the bullying then they do NOT have a right to see, let alone demand, their personal social netwroking page. And if you want to use the "minor has no rights" angle, then it technically belongs to her parents and they have no right to see it without the parent's consent. If the account did not belong to the VP, then they have no right to it unless there proof that it was used, while using school computers/network, to committ a violation of school rules/law.
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