PHILADELPHIA -- Two Pennsylvania teens cannot be disciplined at school for MySpace parodies of their principals created on home computers, a federal appeals court ruled Monday in a high-profile case involving students and free speech.
The postings, however lewd or offensive, were not likely to cause significant disruptions at school and are therefore protected under prior Supreme Court case law, the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals found.
"Today's court decision states that you cannot punish students for off-campus speech simply because it offends or criticizes (school officials)," Witold Walczak, legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania, told The Associated Press. The ACLU represented both students.
However, six judges who dissented in one of the twin cases said they feared salacious online attacks against school officials would go unpunished.
"It allows a student to target a school official and his family with malicious and unfounded accusations about their character in vulgar, obscene, and personal language," Judge D. Michael Fisher wrote in the dissent involving the Blue Mountain School District in eastern Pennsylvania.
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Why can students bad mouth teachers explicitly and not get into trouble while a teacher who blogs about students horrible behavior and does not even mention students by name get suspended without pay. I do not know whether or not she ultimately lost her job. Regardless it is unfair. Completely one-sided. Students should not have that right nor should teachers and school officials.
ReplyDeleteThen federal courts need to rule, that regardless of religious implications, you may speak about and use the word: God in anything you say or do. Cannot see any difference.
ReplyDelete