Boynton Beach high school students target of Facebook popularity contest

BOYNTON BEACH, Fla. - Local students enjoyed the remaining hours of their winter break on Monday afternoon.

But over the past few weeks, someone spent a lot of their free time in front of a computer screen. The person, or people, created several Facebook pages, which are causing an uproar among students at "Park Vista Community High School".

"A bunch of people seeing who is hotter by comparing two people together," said Michael Matuals, a senior at Park Vista.

The Facebook pages pit students against each other in what are basically popularity contests.

"I guess they're trying to make people mad at each other and stuff," said Matuals.

One Facebook page asks the question: Who is cuter? Another page asks people to vote for the person they think would win in a fight.

"Me and one of my friends were on it actually. Who would win a fight, but it was one of my best friends. So we just joked around about it, but that was it," said Matuals.

"It's kind of like the burn book in the movie, 'Mean Girls'. Once everybody finds out who it is, it's not going to be a good situation to be in at all," said one student.

Many of the pictures are swiped from Facebook without a student's permission. No one is sure who created the pages or why particular students were targeted, but people are concerned that the pages could lead to serious problems.

"It's gonna start arguments between friends and they're not going to be friends anymore."

A spokesperson for the Palm Beach County school district said that officials were not aware of these pages.

The spokesperson also says that while schools don't condone harassment of any kind, on or off school property, the person, or people behind these pages, cannot be disciplined unless there are problems at school.
 

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