“CYBERBULLYING” OF PRINCIPAL IS ONLY “JUVENILE HUMOR”
News item: A middle school girl in Pennsylvania posted a photo of her principal online and described him as a “hairy sex addict” and a “pervert” who likes “hitting on students” in his office. The posting also included entries mocking the principal’s wife and children. The principal imposed a ten-day suspension on the girl. A week later, he was sued in federal court by the girl’s parents. The lawyers for the girl said that the “fake profile” of the principal was “juvenile humor” that should be ignored. The parents lost before a federal judge who called the material “vulgar and lewd”. But last summer the parents won before the full 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia. The 8-6 majority said the posting “caused no substantial disruption” at the school, and the courts do not “allow schools to punish students for off campus speech.” Doing so, the majority said, threatens “dangerously broad censorship” of students.
Quick, we need to install the “common sense” hotline that I have recommended in previous posts. Here is how