Honor Society student kicked out because of Facebook page

TAMPA - A Tampa-area high school student says he was kicked out of the National Honor Society because he started a Facebook page critical of his school.

The decision to kick Alex Fuentes out of the National Honor Society at Wesley Chapel High School led him to transfer to another school last month, the student told The Tampa Tribune for a story published Wednesday.

Fuentes, an 18-year-old senior, started the page three months ago. Titled "Wesley Chapel High = Fail," it became a popular venue for students to criticize the school north of Tampa.

Fuentes said he was frustrated that he was going to graduate from a school that was lowly ranked because of poor standardized tests scores.

"It wasn't anything malicious," he said. "It was just a joke taken the wrong way."

When he returned from winter break last month, a panel of teachers voted unanimously to dismiss him from the National Honor Society on the grounds he had not upheld a pledge to show loyalty to his school, Fuentes said.

The school's principal, Carin Nettles, said she couldn't talk specifically about Fuentes' case. But she said the National Honor Society has to follow procedures set out in its constitution when a member is accused of violating the pledge that inductees take.

"They don't just kick someone out," she said.

Fuentes said he decided to transfer to a neighboring high school after discovering that three of his teachers were on the panel that voted to expel him from the honor society.