Report Facebook bullying to school

DEAR AMY: My 14-year-old daughter has a Facebook page. Recently a good friend of hers created a "fake" Facebook page, using an abbreviated form of my daughter's name. My daughter found out because a search of her name turned up this other page. By looking at the photos posted, it was quite obvious who had done this. This girl used some very nasty language and said some very nasty things. Needless to say, my daughter was very upset and hurt that her friend would do this. I contacted the parents and the next day they brought the girl to our house to apologize. They asked me not to tell anyone. I think they are more worried about their reputation than why their daughter would do this to a girlfriend. The girl has not been punished and is still on Facebook. My daughter no longer talks to the girl, but our worry is that she will do it again. Any advice?No Fan of Facebook

DEAR NO FAN: Creating this fake Facebook page was hostile, malicious and bullying. So far, the parents have handled this well by bringing the girl to your home and facing the issue personally.

You are not obligated to keep this silent just because they asked you to. Your response to this request should have been, "I understand your point of view, but we'll have to do what we think is best." Many schools have extended their no-bullying policies to cover online behavior. You should take this incident to the school and say exactly what happened.

Tell the school official that the parents brought the child to your home to apologize. If you feel this apology is sincere and sufficient and think the matter should be closed, you should say so.

The school should be notified because this might be a pattern they are seeing with this child or others in her grade. If it happens again, they will know it is not a first offense and can react appropriately.