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donal brown

Student First Amendment rights get lost in school’s policing of off-campus postings on social media

donal brown March 18, 2010

A blogger from the Citizen Media Law Project argues that school authorities are over reaching in many instances in punishing students for off-campus speech. In many instances the speech has no disruptive effect on the school or falls short of creating a hostile school environment. -db Citizen Media Law Project Commentary March 17, 2010 By Justin Silverman A freshman at Oak Grove High School in Missouri used Facebook last month to vent about another student: “Wow,

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Federal court blocks District Attorney from prosecuting girls for appearing in racy photos on cellphones

donal brown March 18, 2010

Without resolving all the First Amendment issues in the case over whether girls could be punished for “sexting”, a federal appeals court blocked the District Attorney from initiating criminal charges and requiring the girls to participate in an education program and to write an essay about why their sexting was wrong. -db The New York Times March 17, 2010 By Tamar Lewin In the first federal appeals court opinion dealing with “sexting” — the transmission

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Southern California: Appeals court rules against student for Web site hate speech

donal brown March 18, 2010

A California private school student lost an appeal of a decision against him for death threats he sent to a classmate on the classmate’s Web site. The court said the speech was not protected under the First Amendment since it conveyed serious expression to inflict bodily harm. -db Courthouse News Service March 17, 2010 By Avery Fellow (CN) – A California private-school student who posted death threats on a classmate’s Web site isn’t shielded from hate-crime

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Atherton: Open government advocate persists in suit after rebuff by district attorney

donal brown March 18, 2010

An open government advocate is suing the Sequoia Union High School District to force them to decide on a personnel policy item in open meeting. The local district attorney sided with the school district in holding that  the vote behind closed doors was legal. -db The Almanac March 17, 2010 By Dave Boyce The district attorney will not go to battle for Peter Carpenter, the open-government crusader and Atherton resident, who is trying to force

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Kern school district challenged on Brown Act violations in plan to lay off teachers

donal brown March 18, 2010

The Kern High School District wants to lay off ten teachers after cuts in federal funds, but the teachers claim the district has not disclosed the details of the layoffs and so is acting in violation of the Brown Act, the state’s open government law. -db Bakersfield Now March 17, 2010 By Eyewitness News staff BAKERSFIELD, Calif. — The Kern High School District plans to lay off about ten more teachers because of cuts to

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