Kids suspended for FaceBook posts

[TheZue]

You probably already know this, but name calling is not "slander" or "libel". Name calling, if it conveys a threat, is legally problematic, but otherwise is protected. For instance, I can call use a racial slur on national television to describe someone. I would face no legal ramifications. Social ramifications - you bet - but freedom of speech allows me to use those slurs...

what if you call somebody an illegal immigrant who is here perfectly legally? Or a kid homosexual that isn't?

 

[Mermaid02]

what if you call somebody an illegal immigrant who is here perfectly legally? Or a kid homosexual that isn't?

It's called name calling....... sticks and stones and all that good stuff....... it isn't right but it has been around since the dawn of time.

 

[DisneyBamaFan]

what if you call somebody an illegal immigrant who is here perfectly legally? Or a kid homosexual that isn't?

Legal unless real harm can be demonstrated and the person making the statements can be demonstrated to have real knowledge - otherwise it is treated as opinion under the law and protected from defamation claims. It is a lot more complicated than that, but that is it in a nutshell...

 

[ZachnElli]

Same here, as well as the state high school league. The kids AND PARENTS have to sign both so they know full well what it expected. There was a high school near here that suspended several athletes after someone posted pictures of them drinking at a party. Our state high school league rules are VERY specific about this and most schools have a guilt by association rule meaning if there is a party and there is alcohol and the party gets busted EVERYONE is in trouble, drinking or not. Again, parents and students have to sign this so there is no excuse for not knowing what is expected. If the kids broke the code of conduct--they are out, period.





Exactly, name calling is most certainly bullying--the most common FORM of bullying actually. You don't have to threaten anyone with anything for it to be bullying. The point is moot since the code of conduct was broken anyway.

Employers have been known to fire employees for similar incidences. What REALLY bothers me is that people think there is something wrong with disciplining these kinds of actions. It is actually really, really sad that so many people here would "bring their attorney" and not but the kid's butt for being so stupid You wonder why kids act this way--they know Daddy will bail them out.

I completely agree. And when daddy bails them out it means daddy thinks it is ok. I don't think this is much different than when I was in high school 20 years ago. I remember kids getting in trouble with the law over the summer and they couldn't participate in extracurricular activities the next quarter or semester and school wasn't even in session. Code of Conduct covered it back then too.

 

[Mermaid02]

It's the school saying, "You parents aren't bright enough or have the moral fiber you should so we will do your job for you"

My kids would be in trouble- with me. This should be handled by the families involved. If the families don't think it's punishable, well that's the way of the world. What constitues bad behavior in my house, might be okay in your house.

 

[TheZue]

No, I think it's the school saying your children are damaging the reputation of our school by being morons.

 

[Mermaid02]

No, I think it's the school saying your children are damaging the reputation of our school by being morons.

Wow- There won't be a student left in a public school anywhere. They are the Brewer Witches..... we referred to them as something else....... our entire high school should have been suspended I guess.

 

[TheZue]

But did you take the time to post that on every telephone pole in town or make posters? Or maybe get it published somewhere? Because posting it on facebook isn't like having a conversation between friends at the 7-11 when we were young. The slurs are bad, the way they posted it using their own name on the internet is an incredibly bad idea that in any other environment but a coddled high school would have much worse concequences.

People get fired for stuff they do on their own time all the time. We laughed so hard at somebody a few years back that got fired from home depot for their outlandish and out there postings on a dating site. Lets just say when she showed up at Wendy's I wasn't too happy about her touching my food. It's honestly a good lesson, and if their parents have brought out the lawyers and are fighting this I'm not really sure they actually get it.

 

[Mermaid02]

But did you take the time to post that on every telephone pole in town or make posters? Or maybe get it published somewhere? Because posting it on facebook isn't like having a conversation between friends at the 7-11 when we were young. The slurs are bad, the way they posted it using their own name on the internet is an incredibly bad idea that in any other environment but a coddled high school would have much worse concequences.

People get fired for stuff they do on their own time all the time. We laughed so hard at somebody a few years back that got fired from home depot for their outlandish and out there postings on a dating site. Lets just say when she showed up at Wendy's I wasn't too happy about her touching my food. It's honestly a good lesson, and if their parents have brought out the lawyers and are fighting this I'm not really sure they actually get it.

Did you read what they actually said? With the POSSIBLE exception of the [filter] - calling someone Somalian isn't bad- saying someone is an illegal alien while not "nice" is not what I would call a horrible offense.

 

[TheZue]

Did you read what they actually said? With the POSSIBLE exception of the [filter]- calling someone Somalian isn't bad- saying someone is an illegal alien while not "nice" is not what I would call a horrible offense.

The [filter]is really bad imo. I think it's on par with the [filter]. And accusing somebody of a crime in a public forum, even jokingly, not the greatest either. There would be some big time tolerance lectures going on in my house about immigration if any of my kids said that. But since the kids that my son gets along with at school are from India I can't see it ever being a problem. Generally I've found that people who complain about illegal immigrants are using as a thinly veiled racist attack; but I'm in a different country and almost none of our immigrants are here illegally so that is probably impacting my opinion on this.

But really the big screw up is posting it online. It's just really stupid to leave that kind of trail behind even beyond how public it is. If they have that little judgement you really wonder what else they've been putting out there.

 

[Cindy B]

Happened at my daughters middle school as well. A few kids started a group that stated we hate (insert rival school name) in there.

The principal found out about this and rounded up all the kids and they all got disciplinary action.

 

[pigletliz]

Is it possible the school felt the need to discipline because the parents of those kids complained to the school board? How many times on the Dis have we seen people complain that the school should be held responsible for things that happened away from the school property ? I think the school was in a no-win situation. It is very popular these days to say that the school "should have known" that a child was being bulied. Since high school kids have committed suicide based on words posted on the internet, I think many schools are going to have very little tolerance for anything that has the potential to escalate. Reality is that whether the incident is small or large, people are being held accountable for what they post on the internet. It is there for everyone to see and you can't take it back.

 

[Mermaid02]

The [filter]is really bad imo. I think it's on par with the [filter]. And accusing somebody of a crime in a public forum, even jokingly, not the greatest either. There would be some big time tolerance lectures going on in my house about immigration if any of my kids said that. But since the kids that my son gets along with at school are from India I can't see it ever being a problem. Generally I've found that people who complain about illegal immigrants are using as a thinly veiled racist attack; but I'm in a different country and almost none of our immigrants are here illegally so that is probably impacting my opinion on this.

But really the big screw up is posting it online. It's just really stupid to leave that kind of trail behind even beyond how public it is. If they have that little judgement you really wonder what else they've been putting out there.

There is a huge problem with illegal immigration in Lewiston/Auburn (yes, Somalis) the Mayor actually publicly asked them to stop coming to the area a few years ago. They were draining the community of it's resources. Was he a racist too?

If you think everyone who has a problem with ILLEGAL immigration is a "thinly veiled racist" you are way off base.

 

[TheZue]

There is a huge problem with illegal immigration in Lewiston/Auburn (yes, Somalis) the Mayor actually publicly asked them to stop coming to the area a few years ago. They were draining the community of it's resources. Was he a racist too?

If you think everyone who has a problem with ILLEGAL immigration is a "thinly veiled racist" you are way off base.

Like I said, here we don't have that problem, so here people complaining about it generally are racists.

 

[ICF]

No way or how a school should get involved and punish kids for what they post on their FB pages while not in school.

IMO, they have WAY overstepped their authority......what happens at a kids home on his / her PC is not for the school to worry about.

 

[Mermaid02]

Like I said, here we don't have that problem, so here people complaining about it generally are racists.

You have no idea if that is true or not. You, as an adult, calling someone who is complaining about ILLEGAL immigration a racist is FAR worse than a high school kid calling someone an illegal immigrant. And you did in fact put it on the web for the world to see.

 

[TheZue]

You have no idea if that is true or not. You, as an adult, calling someone who is complaining about ILLEGAL immigration a racist is FAR worse than a high school kid calling someone an illegal immigrant. And you did in fact put it on the web for the world to see.

Did I specifically name anyone? No. And honestly getting an email asking me to sign a petion to stop the illegal immigrants in the Hindu community are demanding that the national anthem be sung in Hindi at the Olympics can't be described as anything but racist when 1)it's clearly not true and 2)the fact that most of the Hindu community is here quite legally.

 

[golfgal]

No way or how a school should get involved and punish kids for what they post on their FB pages while not in school.

IMO, they have WAY overstepped their authority......what happens at a kids home on his / her PC is not for the school to worry about.

The school has a code of conduct policy-if the kids broke the code of conduct the school DOES have every right to discipline them.

 

[krcit]

This seems to me to be a slippery slope and I do not envy schools today that have to deal with stuff that wasn't an issue before the internet. we had an incident over here where I saw a very upsetting video that was filmed on school grounds but after school hours. There were a few boys(already known as bullys) taunting a special ed boy who is in 1st grade, the boys doing the bullying were in 6th, 8th and 11th grade. The video escalated to them throwing things at him. These bullys then posted the video on youtube and went around telling people to watch it. My oldest dd brought it to my attention. I called someone who knows the special kid and we decided to go there and show her the video. I was going to call the school the next day but the mother took care of that after she called the police. The police could not do anything but they did go to all the boys involved homes and show the parents the video. The school, after the mother of the victim called them repeatedly and went up there, gave the kids a 1 day suspension. Disgusting in my opinion. You know what the superintendant said 'You are lucky that we punished them at all. wasn't during school hours so it really isn't our problem." First of all, that is disgusting and I have lost all respect for the man, secondly, the school code of conduct states that the kids can be disciplined for any offense taking place on school grounds. The mom was going to pursue it with the media because believe me, if you saw this video you would be horrified and crying, but decided she didn't want to put her poor child through anymore so it was dropped.
I don't know what the answer is in regards to schools punishing kids for stuff that happens outside of school but if it is ON school property or is using the school name, I think something should be done

 

[pansmermaidzlagoon]

this happened here recently: only the harassment involved a page set up specifically to target a teacher. Does that change the situation? Some here still argued the school had no right to discipline as this happened while the kids were at home? Thoughts?

IMHO, I am not sure, though I am leaning toward thinking the school has a right to discipline based on it involving the teacher......