California schools have added heft in their anti-bullying campaigns with the legislature passing an amendment allowing public schools to punish students who post threats or abuse of fellow students on social networks. -db From the First Amendment Center, May 29, 2012, by David L. Hudson Jr. Full story
Despite split rulings in two federal appellate courts, the U.S. Supreme Court will not hear arguments on whether school officials can regulate the off-campus speech of students on the Internet. Two of the three cases under consideration concerned parodies directed at principals while the third involved cruel words directed at another student. -db From the Student Press Law Center, January 17, 2012, by Brian Schraum. Full story
Delaware schools and schools across the country are crafting policies to encourage responsible use of the social media but in doing so often run head on into the First Amendment. Many educators and free speech advocates see the need to educated students at an early age to the consequences of cyberbullying and other questionable uses of the social media. -db From DFMNews, November 8, 2011, by Eileen Smith Dallabrida. Full story
The U.S. Supreme Court will decide if it will hear a case from West Virginia in which a student was disciplined for making hurtful comments about another student on MySpace. Citing Tinker v. Des Moines, the administration said the comments could cause disruption at school. The student’s petition asks the Court to decide if the substantial disruption standard from Tinker applies to online speech and to clarify the meaning of the term, substantial disruption. -db
After Jacob Fleener, on his own time and on his own computer, logged onto a Facebook page with a parody of his principal, he was taken out of his high school English class to be interrogated by two district police services officers. The school officials recommended transferring him to an alternative school and gave a letter to his father accusing his son of identity theft. The school officials later relented and agreed to rescind the