Teens Sue School for Pictures Posted on MySpace: In an AP report out this week, two sophomore girls from Indiana have sued their school district after they were punished for posting sexually suggestive photos on MySpace during their summer vacation. The lawsuit filed last week on behalf of the girls, argues that Churubusco High School violated the girls’ free speech rights when it banned them from extracurricular activities for a joke that didn’t involve the school. They say the district humiliated the girls by requiring them to apologize to an all-male coaches’ board and undergo counseling.
In a time where students and teachers are finding themselves the victims of Cyber Bullying, schools are setting policies to deter from such behavior. The question remains at what point does the school district have legal standing on something that happens in Cyberspace? Most school policies have included language to include Cyber Bullying or activities posted online, whether on or off campus, which would disrupt the school process. This means if an incident occurs online while the student was at home and that incident then becomes a problem for the student while at school and becomes disruptive in class or while on campus, the schools can now take action with either suspension or expulsion.
Last year Governor Schwarzenegger signed Assembly Bill 86 which gave schools in California the right to suspend or expel students for any form of bullying. The Bill states that schools can take action, even if the incident occurs off campus. The school has to show that the incident became a problem while on campus by being a disruption at school.
I do not know all the facts involved in this case but do feel that based on this article, the school may have overreacted. As mentioned by the students attorney there were no indications that this ever had an impact at school as these were images taken and posted during summer vacation and that the students had their accounts set to limit access to only their friends. It is unclear how the information/images got out, but it is not hard to believe such a thing would happen and had made its way to the school officials. Don’t get me wrong, I do believe that if such an incident happens in cyberspace which then becomes a problem at school and a teacher is unable to conduct their class, then the school should have some recourse to take action. I also believe that depending on what the images were, the students may be facing some criminal action themselves if they had posted child pornography. What the bigger issue here falls back to the parents. Parents need to be aware of the type of technology they are handing over to children with laptops and web enable cell phones/camera phones. We need to take our basic parenting skills and apply them to cyberspace. Children will make mistakes but we need to start educating them early about cyber etiquette. We teach our children how to behave in the real world; we need to start having discussions with them about the same behavior applying to cyberspace. I find through my teachings that students are clueless about the impact of such behavior online and what it could mean to them as they get older. How you portray yourself in cyberspace may affect future college applications and employment opportunities, but tell that to a child now and what you get are a blank look and a shrug of the shoulders.
Many times in my career as a police officer I have gotten parents calling me upset over what they saw posted online by a fellow classmate. School officials also have told me they too get several calls regarding inappropriate posting online by their students and in every case the parents ask: “what are you (police/school) doing about it?” Making more laws and more rules are not the answer. We need to enforce the laws and rules we have now, but let’s take a closer look from within the home and try to work together so that more kids don’t behave this way. My fear in the Indiana case is that this sparks the wrong message and that more lawsuits will be filed and yet children still will not learn to think before they post.
Ofc. Steve DeWarns
www.internetchildsafety.net
