Student suspended for facebook slam against teacher

[srmom]

I have to chime in. Last year, my son got mad at his teacher (who was an idiot btw - that does happen, but no, I never got involved nor backed up my son - I might have if he was my 1st child, but, poor kid - he's the 3rd, and he's pretty much raised himself, we call him the wolf cub but I digress, sorry).

Anywho, he posted on his status page that "Mrs. X (name omitted to protect the idiot) was an idiot", and about 40 kids "agreed". I happened to spot it and demanded that he delete, which thankfully he did and it went unremarked upon by the school.

IF he had been busted for the STUPID act of a then 16 year old, a momentary indiscretion done in our study, in our home. And, if he had been suspended for 5 days, which would go on his permanent record and have to be disclosed on college admissions records, I would probably have pitched a major fit. Thankfully, none of that came to pass.

But, I believe that in many ways the schools are really overstepping the bounds. If the school in question had just contacted the parents and said, "your kid has done something creepy at home and you need to know about it." Then the parents could have punished the kid at home for something he did at home.

My mom pitched a fit when I was suspended my junior year because the principal saw me smoking in the parking lot across the street from the highschool. I wasn't on school property, only within sight of it. Should that suspension have stood?

I don't know, I'm just glad I've got 3 more months of this, then no more worries of this sort.

[MysticCat]

Originally Posted by srmom

I have to chime in. Last year, my son got mad at his teacher (who was an idiot btw - that does happen, but no, I never got involved nor backed up my son - I might have if he was my 1st child, but, poor kid - he's the 3rd, and he's pretty much raised himself, we call him the wolf cub but I digress, sorry).

As a fellow wolf cub, I love this.

But, I believe that in many ways the schools are really overstepping the bounds. If the school in question had just contacted the parents and said, "your kid has done something creepy at home and you need to know about it." Then the parents could have punished the kid at home for something he did at home.

I think there are two different questions, though:

1. Was the school within its authority to suspend the student?
2. Could the school have handled it better without suspending the student?

From a legal standpoint, the first question is the one that matters. I'm not saying that I think the school handled this the best way possible. Frankly, I don't know about that. I'm just talking about whether the school was within its legal authority, or rather, responding to those who think the school clearly exceeded its authority.

There's no question that just because a school has the legal authority to take certain action doesn't mean its in the school's or the student's best interest to take that action.

[sigmadiva]

I think we have to consider that we are living in the age of 'post-Columbine' (?sp). Ever since that event, high school admins take any threat against the school seriously. Even if it seems 'small' and 'remote'. I think some of the zero-tolerance policies are a little extreme, but this is the world we live in now.