A judge ruled two Lee’s Summit North High School students can return to school April 9 after being suspended for 180 days because of their blog, Northpress.tk.Steven and Sean Wilson are being allowed to return to school after creating and posting blog posts on the website, which district officials claimed disrupted the educational process.Senior U.S.
Tag: Off-campus Student Internet Speech
Florida teacher suspended for playing social media police
For once, a school district has decided that, yes, there are more important things for teachers to be worrying about than what students say about teachers on Facebook.
Bill letting Indiana schools punish off-campus conduct gets shipped to study committee, buying students a reprieve
On Wednesday, Indiana high school students celebrated "First Amendment Day" at the state Capitol -- and on Thursday, they got to keep their constitutionally protected freedoms safe for at least another year.By a vote of 88-0, the state House voted Thursday night to accept a much-diluted Senate version of HB 1169, a controversial measure that -- as originally filed -- would have enabled schools to suspend or expel students whose behavior anywhere, even at home, was considered an "interference with school purposes."Indiana schools currently can punish illegal conduct that disrupts or interferes with school, but HB 1169 would have allowed suspension or expulsion even for lawful behavior.Instead of granting schools the expanded disciplinary authority they sought, the bill as passed merely calls for the appointment of a 14-member study committee to look at "best practices for school discipline." Among the 14 members will be eight state legislators and three local school administrators; students will not be represented.State Rep.
Minnesota off-campus speech case will be re-argued before state high court
UPDATE: The arguments have been rescheduled for Monday, April 2.The case of a former University of Minnesota student who was disciplined by the university for her Facebook posts will be re-argued before the Minnesota Supreme Court due to one justice’s recusal.Associate Justice Paul H.
Indiana’s “principal in your bedroom” bill attracts diverse array of critics
When the microphones were left open at the end of the Senate committee hearing on Indiana's "Put a Principal in Your Bedroom Bill," a supporter of HB 1169 was heard to exclaim, "None of these people testified against it in the House!"Ouch, democracy.
Indiana’s HB 1169 risks unleashing zero-tolerance “government parents”
Unless an outbreak of common sense sweeps through the Statehouse, Indiana is about to become the most frightening place in America to be a kid.House Bill 1169, pushed by the special-interest lobbyists for school administrators, would unleash school principals to control essentially anything their students do – anytime, anywhere – that they disapprove of.The bill, sponsored by Rep.
Minnesota Facebook discipline case exposes misperceptions about college students’ speech rights
Earlier today, the University of Minnesota's excellent student newspaper, The Minnesota Daily, held an online chat via Twitter to hear readers' reactions to the paper's extensive coverage of a key First Amendment case playing out on campus.
Student settles with St. Augustine’s College in lawsuit over Facebook discipline
St. Augustine’s College and a former student recently came to a confidential settlement, almost eight months after a Facebook post got the student barred from attending his commencement ceremony.Roman Caple graduated May 2, but not with his classmates.
Expulsion over raunchy tweets may cost high school football star his college dream
A student is once again facing punishment for speech outside of school — but this time it may cost a New Jersey private school student his future.Yuri Wright, a senior football star, was expelled from Don Bosco Preparatory High School for explicit tweeting.
Supreme Court’s online speech no-decision counts as a “win” for student First Amendment rights
The announcement that the Supreme Court will not hear any case this term involving the First Amendment rights of students punished for off-campus speech on social networking sites left one thing firmly established: That the law is not firmly established.That is not altogether a bad place to be.Considering the alternative.In 2007, the Supreme Court allowed itself to be swayed by sympathy for a put-upon high school principal in Juneau, Alaska, who made the ill-advised decision to snatch away a humorous banner that one of her students was waving at an off-campus event.