High School Principal Fights Back Against Cyberbullies

The Twitter account for Murdock High School in Winchendon, Massachusetts, is sometimes used by principal Josh Romano.

"It's meant to be a place where I put out 'snow day tomorrow, early release day tomorrow,' and things like that," he said.

But after a parent notified him about a cyberbullying issue during February vacation, Principal Romano took to social media to become an advocate for two students being teased about their sexuality.

"This is Mr. Romano. I find the content of this site to be largely vile and ignorant," he tweeted.

In a twitter rant to the bullies, Romano stated, "I find the content of this site to be largely vile and ignorant."

He went on to type, "These tweets better disappear immediately and the [Winchendon Police Department] and I will be dealing with individuals who posted here on Monday."

In an email sent out to students, Romano called the bullies "pathetic cowards," adding in another email, "I have more respect for insurgents I fought in Iraq than I do for people behind this Twitter account ... At least Iraqis had the courage to face their targets and not hide behind a Twitter account."

As for that comment, Romano now says he should have chosen different words.

"The analogy that I was making with the Iraqi insurgents was they idea that they hide and then they attack a target," he said. "And it doesn't just affect that one target, it affects everyone around them. They are worried they are going to be the next one and it's the same with this Twitter bullying."

But both parents and students support Principal Romano, saying someone needed to stand up to the bullies.

"I thought it was great," said one mother, Florence LaFrennie. "If maybe the more people stuck up, less kids would get bullied."

"I don't think he did anything wrong or said anything wrong," said Murdock High School senior Chelsea Sanderson. "He was just telling what he felt."

Principal Romano and Winchendon Police were able to get the two Twitter accounts shut down. Even though the culprits behind the bullying have not been caught, Romano says he hopes the whole student body learns a valuable lesson from the situation.

"So many kids have the attitude of 'Oh, this is just what people do,'" he said. "It doesn't have to be what people do, and it shouldn't to be what people do."

Romano says the district office officials say that the situation could of been handled differently, but he believes he was just looking out for his students at Murdock High School.

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