Bullying Goes Viral - KXNet - Bismarck/Minot/Williston/Dickinson

Bullying Goes Viral

A new trend is emerging (among high school students) across the nation.

And it is one trend school administrators are not supporting.

Reporter Krista Harju has more.

Students are baring it all online.

A new Internet fad is sweeping the nation-

Social media confessionals.

"They first originated on the college level and they were out there amongst different colleges in the state of North Dakota. And then, students at the high school level began replicating them. So now, from what I understand, they exist about a variety of high schools across the state. And middle schools."

The gritty, tell-all confessional pages play host posts about sexual orientation, alcohol abuse, and sexual activity.

Both ON and OFF campus.

The pages have become a playground for cyber-bullying.

Uselman says they are aware of the pages, but they don't have the staff to monitor them.

And as soon as they shut down one account, another one goes up.

"If you don't go around saying mean nasty things face-to-face to people and you don't write it on the hallway wall, it's no more right to do it anonymously in a digital environment. That's just nasty.So, we do try to teach people to be decent people. That's our first goal."

"At Mandan High School students don't even have access to social media sites such as Facebook or Twitter. And cell phone use is prohibited on school grounds."

"We don't have a lot of regulation, because they are happening outside of school time. Within the school system, we have a filtering system within our network system that doe

Uselman says students could risk expulsion or criminal charges.

At least two students have filed harassment reports with the Fargo Police Department.

Reports that may result in real-world confessions.

In Bismarck, Krista Harju KX News.

The Burleigh County State's Attorney's Office says reports of online harassment are handled on a case-by-case basis.

Prosecution may be pursued in some cases.

No formal charges have been filed at this time.