Topic: Burnside High Principal gets 'I hate' Group on Facebook - Christchurch New Zealand

A new Christchurch principal is the subject of a vicious online attack, sparking a police investigation.
Warwick Maguire, who became Burnside High School's principal last November, has been targeted by a group called "I Hate Burnside's New Principal!!!" on social networking site Facebook.



Some of the group's 202 members have posted threatening and defamatory comments about Maguire and criticised changes he has made to the school, one of the country's largest.



Maguire was on leave and could not be reached for comment yesterday, but second principal Sandra Sidaway said Maguire was not aware of the Facebook group.



He was at a wedding in the North Island and was not able to access the internet, she said.
Maguire, 54, went to Burnside from Wanganui High School, where he had been principal since 1994.
Sidaway said that with 2600 pupils at Burnside, there was the potential for some to be unhappy about various aspects of the school.



Maguire aimed to make Burnside a better school, she said, but to do that he needed to make changes.
Senior Sergeant Pete Stills, of Papanui, said police were investigating the online comments.
No official complaint had been received but the school had made police aware of the site, he said.


Stills said the comments could be defamatory, offensive and seen as inciting someone to commit violence.

I heard that the student involved was convinced to remove the page, possibly due to the police involvement.