Cyber-bullying nipped in bud at Gander Collegiate

The principal of Gander Collegiate says he had to crack down in the fall, after some students tried to use a social media app to bully others at the school.

"Some students had put some questions on Ask.fm that weren't appropriate. It was upsetting to some other students and we had to look into it," said Greg Drover in an interview with CBC Radio's Central Morning Show Tuesday.

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He wouldn't be specific, but said the attempt at cyber-bullying came before the 'ugliest girl' poll that made international headlines in December, when Torbay high school student Lynelle Cantwell fought back.

A similar Facebook poll at a school in Port aux Basques on Dec. 18 resulted in a police investigation

Drover said he was able to nip the bullying attempt at his school in the bud.

"We made it clear that this was not going to be acceptable," he said. We're not going to have students saying things to one another in a social media platform that's going to be hurtful to someone else."

He started an investigation, questioned students and contacted the company behind the app.

Drover said there was no reply, but the message got out to the 412 students at Gander Collegiate.

"They're a great bunch of young people here, and once they heard and understood that this was not what we at GC condone, it didn't take long for the students to start coming to me and saying 'Mr. Drover, this needs to stop.' Luckily, knock on wood, it did."