Facebook Page Prompts School Officials To Suspend Student, Issue Detention To Others

[The Evil Genius]

Interesting.

http://www.inquisitr.com/59189/facebook-page-prompts-school-officials-to-suspend-student-issue-detention-to-others/

Syracuse, NY, United States (AHN) – North Syracuse school officials have suspended a seventh-grader for a Facebook group page she created. School officials say the page libeled one of her teachers.

The Roxboro Road Middle School student and more than 20 others who joined the page as fans were given disciplinary action for their involvement. Some of the fans of the page reportedly posted derogatory comments, and school officials deemed the page obscene.

The Facebook page in question has since been removed.

The North Syracuse School District is now facing scrutiny for their decision to punish the kids. Parents have questioned why such drastic action was taken when the communications occurred outside of the school’s jurisdiction.

[The Evil Genius]

I guess its a bad thing they didn't live here and weren't a bid older. They could done the facebook thing and brought guns to school!

http://www.sacbee.com/384/story/2483630.html

Expulsion for guns in truck overturned by education board

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Buzz up!

By Hudson Sangree

hsangree@sacbee.com The Sacramento Bee

Published: Saturday, Jan. 23, 2010 - 12:00 am

Last Modified: Sunday, Jan. 24, 2010 - 2:26 pm

In the end, the case of a Willows teenager expelled for having hunting guns in his pickup truck parked next to campus didn't focus on gun rights.

It became a question of whether the authority of school officials to enforce the state's Education Code extended to the school fence – or a sidewalk's width beyond it.

On Friday, members of the Glenn County Board of Education drew the line at the gates of Willows High School.

They ruled that officials in the Willows Unified School District had exceeded their authority when they expelled Gary Tudesko – a 17-year-old with a history of disciplinary problems – for leaving two shotguns and ammunition in his truck parked a few feet from the school's tennis courts on a public street.

"The district governing board acted in excess of its jurisdiction to expel the Pupil," the board wrote in its decision.

MORE AFTER LINK

[Destino]

Throw them out of the school. Have no respect for the teacher? Find a pool of teachers you do like, bye bye. Entitled little ****s need to know who runs the show.

[aREDSKIN]

IMO this will not hold up if challenged. Schools have no jurisdiction outside of school property & activities. Obviously freedom of speech is not something the school "officials" understand or believe in.

[TheGoodBits]

IMO this will not hold up if challenged. Schools have no jurisdiction outside of school property & activities. Obviously freedom of speech is not something the school "officials" understand or believe in.

Defamation is illegal. And schools have been overstepping their "jurisdiction" for years and nothing has been done about it. I doubt this suspension would be overturned if challenged.

[PCS]

I guess it's a bit of a perspective thing. Facebook's a lot better than what we did to teachers we didn't like.

*

I mean what I heard some friends of friends do of course. :halo:

[mel25]

i never understood suspension. a kid gets in trouble and gets a vacation. kids who truly value school usually don't need suspension. kids who don't value school don't care and/or think it's a good thing that they don't have to go to school.

[PokerPacker]

If they did this on school property then I can understand. Otherwise, **** the school.

[Destino]

If they did this on school property then I can understand. Otherwise, **** the school.

great message to send children. Want to disrespect adults and teachers? GO RIGHT AHEAD! Humiliate the people publicly, so long as you don't do it on school grounds you're cool. Nevermind that the teachers are people too with families and pride. No no who cares... better to let kids do whatever they want.

Kids shouldn't command any respect at all. They are children that exist entirely because someone else is taking the time to help them. They owe society the utmost respect until at the very least they can pull their own weight.

[mardi gras skin]

Schools have no jurisdiction outside of school property & activities. Obviously freedom of speech is not something the school "officials" understand or believe in.

That's an interesting position to take. If your boss fires you for defaming him on your Facebook page, do you think he infringed on your right to free speech?

[81artmonk]

Not knowing much about this and the link doesn't add much info either, I would have to say I agree. Something a student does off campus shouldn't affect their on campus status. With an exception. If they are involved in something where they represent the school like in sports or debate or other activities, what they do off campus reflects on the school.

However, this seems to be a student bad mouthing a teacher on a private/public webpage, and shouldn't be punishable by school officials.

If they are saying things that affect the teachers job, Ie accusing them of sexual misconduct or other things which could cause the teacher to be called up for questioning regarding these accusations and possibly lose their job than, yes the school should step in.

If it is just dissing the teacher, than the school IMO have no right to step in.

[twist]

great message to send children. Want to disrespect adults and teachers? GO RIGHT AHEAD! Humiliate the people publicly, so long as you don't do it on school grounds you're cool. Nevermind that the teachers are people too with families and pride. No no who cares... better to let kids do whatever they want.

Kids shouldn't command any respect at all. They are children that exist entirely because someone else is taking the time to help them. They owe society the utmost respect until at the very least they can pull their own weight.

I don't think it's a good idea to teach children that the authority figures in their lives are arbitrary, overstep their bounds, and don't clearly spell the rules they expect you to follow ahead of time and the consequences that go along with them.

The school contacting the parents to have the material that disrupted the learning environment discontinued and dealt with at home was the correct action here, but the school decided to act on it's own and hand out it's own punishments and deserves the criticism it gets.

[Destino]

I don't think it's a good idea to teach children that the authority figures in their lives are arbitrary, overstep their bounds, and don't clearly spell the rules they expect you to follow ahead of time and the consequences that go along with them.

The school contacting the parents to have the material that disrupted the learning environment discontinued and dealt with at home was the correct action here, but the school decided to act on it's own and meat out it's own punishments and deserves the criticism it gets.

You think calling your boss names on facebook will get you fired? Perhaps we should teach kids how the world works instead of raising spoiled brats that can't show the smallest amount of respect.

[Zguy28]

At least they don't get caned in school anymore. I watched How Green Was My Valley (great movie by the way!) the other night and the boy got whipped until he passed out.

[twist]

That's an interesting position to take. If your boss fires you for defaming him on your Facebook page, do you think he infringed on your right to free speech?

and

You think calling your boss names on facebook will get you fired? Perhaps we should teach kids how the world works instead of raising spoiled brats that can't show the smallest amount of respect.

An odd counter position, the school (a government institution) is like a job (a voluntary arrangement of free peoples)

Your boss doesn’t force you to come to work against your will, it is a voluntary relationship.

Ones boss firing someone for exercising their freedom of speech doesn’t interfere with it because one only has the right not to be punished for what they say by the government.

[MrSilverMaC]

IMO this will not hold up if challenged. Schools have no jurisdiction outside of school property & activities. Obviously freedom of speech is not something the school "officials" understand or believe in.

That's what I was thinking.

[Destino]

An odd counter position, the school (a government institution) is like a job (a voluntary arrangement of free peoples)

Your boss doesn’t force you to come to work against your will, it is a voluntary relationship.

Ones boss firing someone for exercising their freedom of speech doesn’t interfere with it because one only has the right not to be punished for what they say by the government.

So you think members of the armed forces can call out their commanding officer on face book? What about judges? Would you recommend slamming a judge personally while involved in a trial in his court? All government institutions in which there are punishments for not showing up.

I stand by what I said. Suspension my foot, I'd throw the little **** out and tell the parents that it wouldn't have happened had they taught the little failure about respect.

[twist]

Schools are not all government institutions and free speech does not equate to freedom from consequence. If you walk into a court room you are not free to call the judge names. Court is without question in ALL CASES a government institution. Student/teacher relationship is one of authority. Teachers have authority over their students. That relationship can not exist if teachers are subjected to public humiliation without recourse.

or

So you think members of the armed forces can call out their commanding officer on face book? What about judges? Would you recommend slamming a judge personally while involved in a trial in his court? All government institutions in which there are punishments for not showing up.

I stand by what I said. Suspension my foot, I'd throw the little **** out and tell the parents that it wouldn't have happened had they taught the little failure about respect.

I am allowed to call the judge names on face book in the privacy of my own home though.

I think I called many a supreme court justice an idiot this week and no fines...

Your point would be stronger if the offence happened at school… Hence the Juristiction issue.

[PCS]

You think calling your boss names on facebook will get you fired? Perhaps we should teach kids how the world works instead of raising spoiled brats that can't show the smallest amount of respect.

And hopefully,maybe we can teach them not to paint with such a broad brush. Oh. And about the firing thing. One of the more.....interesting developments with the growth of social networking has been just that.

[MrSilverMaC]

I stand by what I said. Suspension my foot, I'd throw the little **** out and tell the parents that it wouldn't have happened had they taught the little failure about respect.

So at what point does the schools jurisdiction end? Or do they get free reign in every part of a kids life?

[Destino]

So at what point does the schools jurisdiction end? Or do they get free reign in every part of a kids life?

Kids respect their teachers and other authority figures while attending the school those people are involved in operating. If they don't they find another school. I really don't think simple respect is asking a lot. In fact I'd argue that it is the absolute bare minimum one could expect from a CHILD.

You know how people talk all the time about how American schools are falling behind? Believe it or not the fact that teachers are viewed as a joke by their students plays a major role. Take it from someone that has seen what schools are like elsewhere, what you have here is a circus.

[PCS]

Let's be specific here. Kids need to SHOW respect,not necessarily HAVE it,(well. For the position anyway). It would be nice if they all did HAVE respect,but they don't I'm sure. So at least they should show it. Talking bad about teachers is nothing new,they're just in a much more public arena these days when using the internet. We used to talk about teachers in both and good ways all the time. Just made a point to do so in a place where the teacher couldn't hear it.

This is an interesting case never the less. On one side,it can be argued that these kids are doing nothing more than many of my classmates and I did. Talk about the teacher at recess,on break,at lunch,or better yet,at home. Yours or a friends. Only it's being done on the internet. And there in lies another side of the issue. It's a highly visible area to be saying things. And some of the wrong things said could be taken very seriously and could come back to bite the teacher in the ass pretty fast.

[Kosher Ham]

The girl was suspended not expelled.

If a parent had a facebook page slamming the teacher, they would probably be sued.

I think the school is within their bounds to address and deal with this.

Thing is what teacher was looking up the kids on facebook to begin with ?

[MissU28]

The girl was suspended not expelled.

If a parent had a facebook page slamming the teacher, they would probably be sued.

I think the school is within their bounds to address and deal with this.

Thing is what teacher was looking up the kids on facebook to begin with ?

Teacher probably heard about it. Things like that get around. Kids are very candid.

Also, if this was a girl's facebook page, she was probably on it calling her teacher a slut or something. I don't think it was just "Ms. Johnson's a *****" kind of page.

If there was a page out there with one of my students talking **** about me, damn right the kid needs to be suspended/expelled. That can hurt my career for years to come. Kid needs to be made an example of.

[Henry]

If the kid libeled one of the teachers, well, that's illegal. It would be no different than a kid TPing a teacher's yard. And yes, I think the school in such a case has the right to step in.

The kid's rights end where the teacher's property (in this case, the teacher's reputation) begins.