This link has been bookmarked by 2 people . It was first bookmarked on 05 Sep 2008, by Anne Bubnic.
-
26 Sep 08
-
05 Sep 08
Anne BubnicA court case upholds administrators’ rights to discipline a student who used derogatory language on a blog, but questions arise. In Doninger v. Niehoff, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit ruled in May that a Connecticut school district that disciplined a student for vulgar and derogatory remarks made off-campus did not violate her free speech rights.
ad4dcss blog discipline legal cyberbullying school administrators
-
According to Doninger, the principal told her that Jamfest was cancelled because of the students’ action. The principal denied saying that. That evening, Doninger posted an entry on her personal blog in which she noted that Jamfest had been cancelled, referred to the district administrators as “douchebags,” and encouraged continued contact with the superintendent to “piss her off more.” The following day the event was rescheduled. Sometime later school officials
-
The appeals court found that it was reasonably foreseeable that Doninger’s posting would reach campus and that the posting created a foreseeable risk of substantial disruption within the school environment because the language used was offensive. It likely disrupted efforts to resolve the controversy, and the posting that Jamfest had been cancelled made it foreseeable that school operations might well be disrupted further.
-
There was no evidence of any disruption at school. The only disruption was to the principal and superintendent in responding to what was an impressive response to the student’s call for complaints. There was no indication in the record that the disruption interfered in any way with the delivery of instruction or in any way impacted student welfare.
If administrators are not being appropriately sensitive to the interests of students or are engaging in other actions that cause concern, students clearly should have the free speech right to protest and to call for other students and community members to register their complaints. Inconveniencing school administrators under such circumstances should not be considered to constitute substantial disruption.
-
Would you like to comment?
Join Diigo for a free account, or sign in if you are already a member.