High school and middle school students get expelled for things they post online through social media during non-school hours. Is that violating their free speech rights? Take a look at a few examples:
- Indiana high school student expelled for tweeting ‘f-word’ in a grammar joke post.The student involved made an attempt at a George Carlin style bit of riffing on the ‘f-word’ in a tweet he says was sent from his personal computer late at night. His school, however, has a system that tracks where social media posts come from, and officials there claim his profanity laden post came from a school computer. The student was expelled from school.
- Student Suspended for Fake Suicide On Facebook
In this case, a high school student created a fake Facebook account that she used to create fictional story about a girl who was bullied and eventually committed suicide. The girl had posted disclaimers to the page. She was suspended for five days. - Littleton, CO, students suspended for posting teachers’ pictures, phone numbers on dating sites
Do any of these cases seem more serious to you than the others?