student expelled for twitter swearing during non-school hours

brainhulk

Diamond Member
Sep 14, 2007
9,376
454
126
http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/technol...ring-twitter-during-non-school-230832581.html

The tweet in question dropped the F-bomb a number of times, but was otherwise non-threatening. It was posted at 2:30 a.m. — a time when the student in question was most assuredly not at school. Still, despite the evidence, the school stands by its decision to expel the student.

How did the school discover that one of its students dared to tweet an offending word during the middle of the night? Simple: Garrett High School's computer system actively tracks the social media presence of its students. Because the student logged on to his account during school hours, the system was able to find and report the foul-mouthed tweet, leading to the expulsion.

"I don't think the school or anybody should be looking at [my account]. Because it's my own personal stuff and it's none of their business," said the student, who will be attending an alternative high school to finish out his school year and earn his degree.

Predictably, students at Garrett High School did not react favorably to news of the expulsion. A student-led protest was put down by local police after school administrators clamped down on the students' First Amendment rights even further.

Do school officials have jurisdiction over your activities outside school? This to me looks like school admins overstepping their bounds...
 

nsafreak

Diamond Member
Oct 16, 2001
7,093
3
81
Potential lawsuit coming over this I would say. It's one thing for a school to have some say what students do during certain extracurricular activities such as school sponsored sports and other events. However once a student has left the school's property and is not attending a school sponsored event then they are no longer under the jurisdiction of the school and the school has no say in what they may say or do.
 
Feb 6, 2007
16,432
1
81
The administrator who decided that was OK is one of the worst human beings to ever live and should be beaten forever. OK, admittedly, that's a little harsh. They should only be beaten until they die.
 

Railgun

Golden Member
Mar 27, 2010
1,289
2
81
Prep for the corporate world where your online activities could land you on the curb with a box in your arms.

However, I don`t agree with this by any stretch of the imagination, nor do I agree with a lot of corporate standards to the same, though, only to a certain extent.
 

Dr. Zaus

Lifer
Oct 16, 2008
11,764
347
126
Corporate has a right to fire you because your hair is too well groomed.


Public school is required to educate unless there's a damned good reason.


Private school: even more leeway than corporate.
 

Dr. Zaus

Lifer
Oct 16, 2008
11,764
347
126
That is correct.

The Supreme Court ruled that students do not have any rights.

Increasingly adults in the U.S. are being stripped of rights as well so should not be a surprise.

Either suck it up or revolt.

The choice is everyone's to make.

False.

We could also post false information on the internet for our personal amusement; which is a revolutionary form of sucking.

-jj
 

disappoint

Lifer
Dec 7, 2009
10,132
382
126
Prep for the corporate world where your online activities could land you on the curb with a box in your arms.

However, I don`t agree with this by any stretch of the imagination, nor do I agree with a lot of corporate standards to the same, though, only to a certain extent.

You don't agree with schools prepping students for the real world?

:twisted:
 

DrPizza

Administrator Elite Member Goat Whisperer
Mar 5, 2001
49,601
166
111
www.slatebrookfarm.com
It depends on the content of the tweet, not the swearing. I haven't seen what the message was in the tweet, and suspect we're not getting the full story. If it was something like "I'm going to blow the m-f'ing school up" well, then it's not the f-bomb that resulted in the expulsion.

However, if it really was simply an f-bomb or two that led to the expulsion, it's a slam dunk case for him to win the lawsuit. Following the news story, I'm sure there are under-employed lawyers drooling over the case as a quick way to make a buck. (I stay very current on education law)
 

CPA

Elite Member
Nov 19, 2001
30,322
4
0
That is correct.

The Supreme Court ruled that students do not have any rights.

Increasingly adults in the U.S. are being stripped of rights as well so should not be a surprise.

Either suck it up or revolt.

The choice is everyone's to make.

yet, you're for Obamacare's individual mandate.
 

Veliko

Diamond Member
Feb 16, 2011
3,597
127
106
Assuming there is nothing more to this story then that is utterly disgusting.

The bit about the police putting down a protest is quite chilling though it depends what actually happened of course.
 

Dr. Zaus

Lifer
Oct 16, 2008
11,764
347
126
Assuming there is nothing more to this story then that is utterly disgusting.

The bit about the police putting down a protest is quite chilling though it depends what actually happened of course.

They should have all just tweeted fuck.
 

NFS4

No Lifer
Oct 9, 1999
72,636
46
91
It depends on the content of the tweet, not the swearing. I haven't seen what the message was in the tweet, and suspect we're not getting the full story. If it was something like "I'm going to blow the m-f'ing school up" well, then it's not the f-bomb that resulted in the expulsion.

However, if it really was simply an f-bomb or two that led to the expulsion, it's a slam dunk case for him to win the lawsuit. Following the news story, I'm sure there are under-employed lawyers drooling over the case as a quick way to make a buck. (I stay very current on education law)

This is what he said:


"One of my tweets was, BEEP is one of those BEEP words you can BEEP put anywhere in a BEEP sentence and it still BEEP make sense,” said Austin Carroll, student.

http://www.indianasnewscenter.com/n...elled-For-Tweeting-Profanity---144022966.html
 

actuarial

Platinum Member
Jan 22, 2009
2,814
0
71
I can see a school punishing a kid over a tweet if the tweet threatened any school staff or fellow student, but just randomly over swearing is crazy.
 

DCal430

Diamond Member
Feb 12, 2011
6,020
9
81
There is ZERO chance that is legal.

My school district would discipline students for fighting outside of school, after school hours. So schools are allowed to discipline students for things done outside of school.

For example:

At my high school two students decided to settle things in fight after school, at a park a mile away. The fight was probably around an hour after the final school period ended. The school some how found out and both students were expelled. Zero tolerance.

This was perfectly legal.
 

NFS4

No Lifer
Oct 9, 1999
72,636
46
91
My school district would discipline students for fighting outside of school, after school hours. So schools are allowed to discipline students for things done outside of school.

For example:

At my high school two students decided to settle things in fight after school, at a park a mile away. The fight was probably around an hour after the final school period ended. The school some how found out and both students were expelled. Zero tolerance.

This was perfectly legal.

nomercy.jpg
 

Texashiker

Lifer
Dec 18, 2010
18,811
197
106
The Supreme Court ruled that students do not have any rights.

You really need to stop posting now.

There have been lots of cases where the supreme court decided that children do have freedom of speech, and especially political speech.

Example:

http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,2078636,00.html
In 1969, in the landmark case of Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District, the Supreme Court held that a school violated students' First Amendment rights when it suspended them for wearing black arm bands to protest the Vietnam War.




My school district would discipline students for fighting outside of school, after school hours. So schools are allowed to discipline students for things done outside of school.

Fighting is not a protected right
 
Last edited: