slacker
Team HuskerBoard
Irregular News for 10.02.06
Indianapolis, IN -- A growing number of school officials in the Indianapolis area are trying to punish students for Internet commentary they deem inappropriate -- including postings on home computers -- drawing outrage from teens and free-speech advocates.
As schools across the country adopt blogging policies, parents have challenged their constitutionality. Here are a few cases stemming from the policies:
Colorado: Littleton High School junior Bryan Lopez was suspended after posting comments about his school on MySpace.com in February. On his profile, he discussed the poor condition of his school building and the perceived racial biases of teachers and staff. Lopez contested his suspension and was reinstated.
Ohio: Eighth-grader Jessica Schoch was expelled after posting a parody profile of a school administrator on MySpace in the spring. The Holland, Ohio, teen protested the expulsion, claiming the profile was free speech. The Springfield School Board later reversed the expulsion.
Pennsylvania: Student rapper Anthony Latour, Ellwood City, posted his original rap lyrics and recordings on the Internet. Latour, then 14, and a friend engaged in "battle rap," trying to one-up each other with violent lyrics. Anthony was expelled in May 2005 because of the violent lyrics and arrested and charged with terroristic threatening, though the charges were later dropped. He sued the Riverside Beaver County School District, which settled with Latour's family for $90,000. Latour has since filed a lawsuit against the officers who arrested him.
One student has been expelled at one school, another suspended. One school district has warned students they are legally responsible for postings; another will vote on a similar policy this month.
"Kids look at the Internet as today's restroom wall," said Steve Dillon, director of student services for Carmel Clay Schools. "They need to learn that some things are not acceptable anywhere."
Carmel High School used its harassment and bullying policy to expel a student Dillon said posted sexually explicit comments about a teacher on MySpace. A second Carmel student was suspended for 10 days and given community service for posting racially offensive comments about a teacher on the site, he said.
Another area school district, Clark-Pleasant in Whiteland, is trying to pass a policy that puts students -- and teachers -- on notice that they are legally responsible for anything they post online, including material deemed defamatory, obscene, proprietary or libelous. The proposed policy will come before the School Board on Oct. 17. Beech Grove passed a similar policy in the spring. "If something starts online and spills into school, we want to be able to deal with that and restore order to the school," said Clark-Pleasant Director of Technology Jim White, who crafted the district's proposed policy on responding to Internet activity.
While educators worry that postings on Web sites such as MySpace can disrupt learning, students see controlling what they post outside school as a threat to their right of free speech.
Civil rights advocates are on their side, worrying that the new policies extend government's reach too far into the personal lives of students.
"It's chilling and gives the effect that people don't know what they can and cannot say," said Henry Karlson, a professor at Indiana University School of Law-Indianapolis. "How disruptive does it have to be for the school to be able to control it?"
MySpace and other social networking sites are an integral part of tech-savvy teens' worlds. Students post everything from photos and homemade videos to journals chronicling their crushes, vacations and school experiences.
To these kids, the idea of new controls is troubling.
"The school system has no right to sit there and tell us what we can and cannot do at home," said 17-year-old Kayla Wiggington, a junior at Clark-Pleasant's Whiteland Community High School who uses MySpace to keep in touch with friends. "They can control what we do at school, but when it gets home, the only people who can tell us what to do is our parents, not the school."
At this point, only a few schools in the metro area have policies targeting what students can say online. But virtually all block access on school computers to sites such as MySpace and Facebook, where students can post photos, text and other material, and the online journals known as blogs on Web sites such as LiveJournal and Xanga.
Dillon said the Carmel Clay district hoped its cases would serve as a warning to students.
"We wanted to find a couple students, prove it was them, apply discipline and then let the word get out to the other kids," he said.
source
Indianapolis, IN -- A growing number of school officials in the Indianapolis area are trying to punish students for Internet commentary they deem inappropriate -- including postings on home computers -- drawing outrage from teens and free-speech advocates.
As schools across the country adopt blogging policies, parents have challenged their constitutionality. Here are a few cases stemming from the policies:
Colorado: Littleton High School junior Bryan Lopez was suspended after posting comments about his school on MySpace.com in February. On his profile, he discussed the poor condition of his school building and the perceived racial biases of teachers and staff. Lopez contested his suspension and was reinstated.
Ohio: Eighth-grader Jessica Schoch was expelled after posting a parody profile of a school administrator on MySpace in the spring. The Holland, Ohio, teen protested the expulsion, claiming the profile was free speech. The Springfield School Board later reversed the expulsion.
Pennsylvania: Student rapper Anthony Latour, Ellwood City, posted his original rap lyrics and recordings on the Internet. Latour, then 14, and a friend engaged in "battle rap," trying to one-up each other with violent lyrics. Anthony was expelled in May 2005 because of the violent lyrics and arrested and charged with terroristic threatening, though the charges were later dropped. He sued the Riverside Beaver County School District, which settled with Latour's family for $90,000. Latour has since filed a lawsuit against the officers who arrested him.
One student has been expelled at one school, another suspended. One school district has warned students they are legally responsible for postings; another will vote on a similar policy this month.
"Kids look at the Internet as today's restroom wall," said Steve Dillon, director of student services for Carmel Clay Schools. "They need to learn that some things are not acceptable anywhere."
Carmel High School used its harassment and bullying policy to expel a student Dillon said posted sexually explicit comments about a teacher on MySpace. A second Carmel student was suspended for 10 days and given community service for posting racially offensive comments about a teacher on the site, he said.
Another area school district, Clark-Pleasant in Whiteland, is trying to pass a policy that puts students -- and teachers -- on notice that they are legally responsible for anything they post online, including material deemed defamatory, obscene, proprietary or libelous. The proposed policy will come before the School Board on Oct. 17. Beech Grove passed a similar policy in the spring. "If something starts online and spills into school, we want to be able to deal with that and restore order to the school," said Clark-Pleasant Director of Technology Jim White, who crafted the district's proposed policy on responding to Internet activity.
While educators worry that postings on Web sites such as MySpace can disrupt learning, students see controlling what they post outside school as a threat to their right of free speech.
Civil rights advocates are on their side, worrying that the new policies extend government's reach too far into the personal lives of students.
"It's chilling and gives the effect that people don't know what they can and cannot say," said Henry Karlson, a professor at Indiana University School of Law-Indianapolis. "How disruptive does it have to be for the school to be able to control it?"
MySpace and other social networking sites are an integral part of tech-savvy teens' worlds. Students post everything from photos and homemade videos to journals chronicling their crushes, vacations and school experiences.
To these kids, the idea of new controls is troubling.
"The school system has no right to sit there and tell us what we can and cannot do at home," said 17-year-old Kayla Wiggington, a junior at Clark-Pleasant's Whiteland Community High School who uses MySpace to keep in touch with friends. "They can control what we do at school, but when it gets home, the only people who can tell us what to do is our parents, not the school."
At this point, only a few schools in the metro area have policies targeting what students can say online. But virtually all block access on school computers to sites such as MySpace and Facebook, where students can post photos, text and other material, and the online journals known as blogs on Web sites such as LiveJournal and Xanga.
Dillon said the Carmel Clay district hoped its cases would serve as a warning to students.
"We wanted to find a couple students, prove it was them, apply discipline and then let the word get out to the other kids," he said.
source
