Earlier this month a New York Federal Appeals Court ruled that a high school had a right to punish a student for criticizing the school administration in an online blog.
Avery Doninger, 18 (pictured with her mother, Lauren) called school administrators “douche bags” in an April 2007 blog entry and was subsequently stripped of her position as class secretary at Lewis S. Mills HS in Burlington, Conn.
The Second Court of Appeals ruled that even speech off school grounds could lead to disruption in the hallways and therefore can be prohibited.
The ruling said in part, “Vulgar or offensive speech – speech that an adult making a political point might have a Constitutional right to employ – may legitimately give rise to disciplinary action by a school.”
Certainly schools have been judged to have fewer Constitutional protections, for instance school lockers can be searched for contraband by law enforcement, with merely school approval, not a warrant, but this speech restriction outside of school, a criticism of the administration and NOT speech that would seem to “lead to disruptions ion the hallways,” seems thin, at the very least.
Avery Doninger, 18 (pictured with her mother, Lauren) called school administrators “douche bags” in an April 2007 blog entry and was subsequently stripped of her position as class secretary at Lewis S. Mills HS in Burlington, Conn.
The Second Court of Appeals ruled that even speech off school grounds could lead to disruption in the hallways and therefore can be prohibited.
The ruling said in part, “Vulgar or offensive speech – speech that an adult making a political point might have a Constitutional right to employ – may legitimately give rise to disciplinary action by a school.”
Certainly schools have been judged to have fewer Constitutional protections, for instance school lockers can be searched for contraband by law enforcement, with merely school approval, not a warrant, but this speech restriction outside of school, a criticism of the administration and NOT speech that would seem to “lead to disruptions ion the hallways,” seems thin, at the very least.
