Schools and Social Media - Heading to SCOTUS?

[Standing Wolf]

NY Times–
It was a Saturday in the spring of 2017, and a ninth-grade student in Pennsylvania was having a bad day. She had just learned that she had failed to make the varsity cheerleading squad and would remain on junior varsity.

The student expressed her frustration on social media, sending a message on Snapchat to about 250 friends. The message included an image of the student and a friend with their middle fingers raised, along with text expressing a similar sentiment. Using a curse word four times, the student expressed her dissatisfaction with “school,” “softball,” “cheer” and “everything.”

Though Snapchat messages are ephemeral by design, another student took a screenshot of this one and showed it to her mother, a coach. The school suspended the student from cheerleading for a year, saying the punishment was needed to “avoid chaos” and maintain a “teamlike environment.”

The student sued the school district, winning a sweeping victory in the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, in Philadelphia. The court said the First Amendment did not allow public schools to punish students for speech outside school grounds.

Next month, at its first private conference after the holiday break, the Supreme Court will consider whether to hear the case, Mahanoy Area School District v. B.L., No. 20-255.

https://brobible.com/culture/article...supreme-court/

When and to what extent school authorities may control and punish a student's off-campus speech and actions is an interesting study. Obviously there are instances where it makes sense, as where it involves threats of violence, but it very often goes well beyond that sort of thing. On the other hand, is participating in an extracurricular activity like cheerleading a "right" that must be respected by the school even if the student publicly expresses contempt for the activity itself? All things considered this is not the case I'd want to see go to the high court - primarily because there have been other cases where the school authorities' behavior was far more egregious and questionable.

[Private Pickle]

The problem is...this is a public school... They absolutely have no right to either interfere or punish for free speech.

This happens often. However; the makeup of the SCOTUS is what will be interesting if they take the case.

[Standing Wolf]

The problem is...this is a public school... They absolutely have no right to either interfere or punish for free speech.

This happens often. However; the makeup of the SCOTUS is what will be interesting if they take the case.

I would rather see a case go before the court where the punishment was not so directly connected with the "offense". Should you be a cheerleader if you express contempt for the activity itself and for the school you'd ostensibly be cheering for? If, instead of suspending her from cheerleading, they'd suspended her from school altogether, I believe that would make for a better case for "B.L.", and there are lots of cases where schools have done that sort of thing.

[Private Pickle]

I would rather see a case go before the court where the punishment was not so directly connected with the "offense". Should you be a cheerleader if you express contempt for the activity itself and for the school you'd ostensibly be cheering for? If, instead of suspending her from cheerleading, they'd suspended her from school altogether, I believe that would make for a better case for "B.L.", and there are lots of cases where schools have done that sort of thing.

I mean I did a lot of things in High School for the purposes of further my chances at scholarships or getting to the school I wanted to go to. I hated several of them. Student government. The Debate Team (I liked the debate. I didn’t like the dynamics). The academic decathlon team. They all sucked.

There is also a lot of politics in the school system all the way through the most extensive of academic environments. One teacher doesn’t like you? Doesn’t like your parents? Can change your future for the rest of your life. They wield entirely too much power. This is an example.

[Adelaide]

I mean I did a lot of things in High School for the purposes of further my chances at scholarships or getting to the school I wanted to go to. I hated several of them. Student government. The Debate Team (I liked the debate. I didn’t like the dynamics). The academic decathlon team. They all sucked.

There is also a lot of politics in the school system all the way through the most extensive of academic environments. One teacher doesn’t like you? Doesn’t like your parents? Can change your future for the rest of your life. They wield entirely too much power. This is an example.

True, but school is also preparing these kids for adulthood. Colleges, many workplaces and a lot of professional bodies/organizations will sanction or punish someone for posting something to social media that violates their contract. I think what happened to the cheerleader was disproportionate, but I also wonder about how kids are going to navigate their adult lives having grown up being able to do and say whatever the hell they want on a myriad of social media platforms.

As someone who has played team sports, I would find it difficult to deal with this person after they trashed us on social media. I also think she would potentially be bullied by others/teammates because of it. Actions have consequences and maybe a one-year suspension from cheer leading not only acted as a punishment but as a way to shield her from potential actions from teammates and coaches, too.

[Private Pickle]

True, but school is also preparing these kids for adulthood. Colleges, many workplaces and a lot of professional bodies/organizations will sanction or punish someone for posting something to social media that violates their contract. I think what happened to the cheerleader was disproportionate, but I also wonder about how kids are going to navigate their adult lives having grown up being able to do and say whatever the hell they want on a myriad of social media platforms.

As someone who has played team sports, I would find it difficult to deal with this person after they trashed us on social media. I also think she would potentially be bullied by others/teammates because of it. Actions have consequences and maybe a one-year suspension from cheer leading not only acted as a punishment but as a way to shield her from potential actions from teammates and coaches, too.

Sure but as a Public school their “contract” has to abide by the Constitution. In this case it’s yet another teenager being a teenager with the power of social media. Whether they willing wield that power or not that is the current state of things. Parents need to do a better job. I know I’m on my kids religiously about their social media and still things get through that I shake my head about.

I also played sports and I absolutely agree with you. However; this child’s social prospects with potential teammates really isn’t the domain of the school board. That’s a coach thing. A parents thing.

This is a suspension by a public entity as a result of free speech. Can’t get behind that.

[Dr. Who]

Once upon a time, before cell phone technology and computers, when 14-year-olds vented their frustration over the "unfairness" of not getting what they wanted, they shared it with their friends in person or on the land line phone. The whole world didn't know about it, but it still happened, replete with cuss words. An immature response to disappointment is hardly unusual for 13 and 14-year-old kids and the fleeting contempt expressed not very meaningful. Unfortunately, with the advent of smart technology, these meltdowns are no longer private outbursts. Notwithstanding the fact that kids need to be educated about expressing anything on social media that they don't want their grandmother or the principal of their school seeing, the school should also take the child's maturity into consideration. In this case, instead of suspending the student from cheer, they should instead of required her to apologize to the team and the coach.

I tend to agree with the lower court ruling regarding the student's freedom of speech off campus.

As far as the trend among kids to trash/bully other kids over social media, I think the law needs to catch up to technology. This shouldn't be a problem for schools to solve, it's a problem for the law to address. It should be considered harassment and punishable under the law with fines, community service or in severe cases, imprisonment.

[Tahuyaman]

Many of the same people who are opposed to the school taking action based on Facebook posts will also criticize the school for not taking action when a kid acts out in a violent manner.

[Adelaide]

Once upon a time, before cell phone technology and computers, when 14-year-olds vented their frustration over the "unfairness" of not getting what they wanted, they shared it with their friends in person or on the land line phone. The whole world didn't know about it, but it still happened, replete with cuss words. An immature response to disappointment is hardly unusual for 13 and 14-year-old kids and the fleeting contempt expressed not very meaningful. Unfortunately, with the advent of smart technology, these meltdowns are no longer private outbursts. Notwithstanding the fact that kids need to be educated about expressing anything on social media that they don't want their grandmother or the principal of their school seeing, the school should also take the child's maturity into consideration. In this case, instead of suspending the student from cheer, they should instead of required her to apologize to the team and the coach.

I tend to agree with the lower court ruling regarding the student's freedom of speech off campus.

As far as the trend among kids to trash/bully other kids over social media, I think the law needs to catch up to technology. This shouldn't be a problem for schools to solve, it's a problem for the law to address. It should be considered harassment and punishable under the law with fines, community service or in severe cases, imprisonment.

I think you're right about the ruling and I think SCOTUS (if it gets there) will go in the same direction.

But I also agree that we are in a new age with technology and that maybe we need to revisit expectations about social media and and technology. We are not keeping up and I honestly wonder about the current crop of teens and all of the issues that will exist because of newer forms of social media. I know a lot of medical professionals have faced serious repercussions for giving advice on Tik Tok (bad advice) and even though many professional bodies have strict rules about giving advice or diagnoses (like the Goldwater rule), social media is creating more challenges. Kids need to learn how to use these platforms responsibly, and they also probably need a lot of education about the safety of what they are posting.

[Standing Wolf]

... I tend to agree with the lower court ruling regarding the student's freedom of speech off campus.

As far as the trend among kids to trash/bully other kids over social media, I think the law needs to catch up to technology. This shouldn't be a problem for schools to solve, it's a problem for the law to address. It should be considered harassment and punishable under the law with fines, community service or in severe cases, imprisonment.

Many schools appear to believe that their authority over their enrollees extends pretty much infinitely - with attempts being made to punish minor, non-school related incidents, while sometimes keeping actual crimes (like sexual assaults and drug possession) committed on campus "in house", with the police never even being notified. Some administrators view their schools as being a separate realm, over whose attendees they hold the power of life and death - or at least of punishment and forgiveness. They will often paint it as being a form of protection for "the children", but I tend to think of it as being indicative of someone being on a power trip, and in any case it's really only the offenders who are being "protected", not the victims.

As for the free speech rights of students, both in and out of school, it's something I've been following with interest since I was a student myself, in the '60s. I've always seen it as a rather obvious contradiction to teach students about the importance of protecting unpopular speech, while attempting to punish them for practicing it.