Judge: Student's Facebook rants about teacher are protected speech

[Adsos Letter]

Source: The Miami Herald

A student who set up a Facebook page to complain about her teacher -- and was later suspended -- had every right to do so under the First Amendment, a federal magistrate has ruled.

The ruling not only allows Katherine ``Katie'' Evans' suit against the principal to move forward, it could set a precedent in cases involving speech and social networking on the Internet, experts say.

The courts are in the early stages of exploring the limits of free speech within social networking, said Howard Simon, the executive director of the Florida ACLU, which filed the suit on Evans' behalf.

``It's one of the main things that we wanted to establish in this case, that the First Amendment has a life in the social networking technology as it applies to the Internet and other forms of communication,'' Simon said.


Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/156/story/1481980.html

[bluestateguy]

1. As long as there is no libel or slander or threats it would seem to be protected speech

of course there can be grey areas there too.

[LisaM]

2. I guess I agree with this ruling

But what if it the situation was reversed, and a teacher was complaining about students (by name) on Facebook? Would the courts protect that, too?

[Dinger]

3. I Was Wondering That Myself (nt)

[melm00se]

16. interestingly enough

http://www.newsobserver.com/news/counties/wake_county/story/340805.html?storylink=misearch

Wake teacher suspended after Facebook comments

A Wake County middle school teacher has been suspended following complaints about disparaging comments she made about her class, Christianity and Southern culture on her Facebook page.

Melissa Hussain, an eighth-grade teacher at West Lake Middle School in Apex, wrote on her Facebook page that it was a “hate crime” that students left a Bible on her desk and how she “was able to shame her kids” over the incident. Her Facebook page included comments from friends saying that the parents of Hussain’s students were “bigoted, stupid and uncaring.”

[EFerrari]

8. The student isn't a hiree but a consumer. I think that's the difference.

It would be unprofessional for a teacher to do this.

[LisaM]

11. I agree it would be unprofessional and I don't think most teachers would

but I do get annoyed that people feel it's okay for students to criticize teachers (I was reading another thread here, today, where some people basically bash teaching as a profession) but God forbid a teacher say anything even slightly critical of the helicopter parents' little darlings!!!

I've seen those publications "grading" college teachers and a lot of it is either anonymous vendettas against professors students disliked, or, a popularity contest where the easy professors got scores of good ratings.

[EFerrari]

12. For one thing, teachers calling out students would be exploiting a power imbalance.

And as to student feedback, reasonable people know how to read it.

[Plucketeer]

14. My wife's a teacher in a public high school

It's one tough job, and that's without considerations for getting the students to apply themselves to the subject she's teaching. Just the politics and dealing with the "helicopter" parents, thank god for which there aren't that many in this district. Actually, it's parental APATHY that's the major factor in poor student performance - at least here anyway.

[Iowa]

19. These are broad generalizations...

"I do get annoyed that people feel it's okay for students to criticize teachers... God forbid a teacher say anything even slightly critical of the helicopter parents' little darlings!!!"

Your comments on this issue reflect a superficiality, immaturity, and lack of professionalism that will only serve to reinforce the public's declining faith in the teaching profession. Teachers deal with an extremely complex set of variables on a daily basis. The best in the profession understand that each situation is unique, and that the basis of everything they do must be anchored in the desire to serve the best interests of their students. This requires the ability to transcend adolescent thinking.

[LisaM]

20. I'm not a teacher. My father was.

But I have a lot of friends whose kids are just graduating high school now, and I'm shocked by some of the things I see. Just a few days ago, the day before I was going to go on vacation, my boss wanted to have a meeting that could have been postponed (I asked her to; she asked me if we could have it anyway and promised to keep it to ten minutes). So in the middle of this meeting, which went an hour, she took a phone call from her 18-year old son who wanted her to meet him downtown to pick out a tie for a dance! This is not uncommon. Wtih everyone I know who has kids about that age - it's the same thing. They leave work to do things for their kids that my parents would never have dreamt of doing for me. I could tell a lot of long boring stories, but I don't think these kids know how to do anything for themselves. I recently read an article about two Canadian women who published a book about things their own kids never learned - after one of them moved out and developed scurvy from his diet.

[EFerrari]

22. Maybe that's why I've never tried to teach high school!

LOL

Seriously, I don't know how people teach in rooms where students are under 18. It's more than I could ever do.

[madmom]

9. There was a thread on here this morning about a teacher who is on paid leave for just this thing....

she put something on her facebook page the students and parents didn't like and they are going after her. It was a different state I think.

[Dr. Strange]

13. Right here:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x7724187

[LisaM]

15. Students that had been harrassing her, as it turns out

The power balance, such as it is, is being weighted in favor of the students. Apparently they have all the rights and teachers have none.

[Joe Bacon]

24. Really?

I remember the hell I went through in high school. And it was orchestrated by a pair of scumbags, my 8th grade algebra teacher and his football coach pal. Both of them called me "dummy", "moron". "asshole" constantly and they openly encouraged kids to beat me. Other "teachers" joined in the harassment. They turned my time in high school into a Nazi death camp experience. Nobody in that hell hole would come to my aid.

The happiest day of my life was when I left that death camp once and for all. I walked out alive. I felt just like a Jew who walked out of Auschwitz.

TIme and time again, I was told I was stupid, dummy, a nobody, a failure. I showed those assholes how much of a failure I was when I got my Masters degree. Meanwhile the pampered big football jock wound up a loser and the spoiled big brain of my class wound up flunking out of Princeton and winding up as a drifter who can't hold a job.

Bottom line--teachers scarred me for life and left me with a burning hatred of public education. Every time I go to vote and look at the ballot I get panic attacks when I see the school bond issues. I get terrible flashbacks of the torture triggered by teachers and I vote NO on anything that would increase funding for those torture chambers.

[Iowa]

17. Confidentiality laws and ethical standards would prevent what you're suggesting...

Furthermore, it should be obvious that teachers should be held to an entirely different standard than students. Your analogy fails on that basis.

[Chulanowa]

18. The courts would

She couldn't be sued or the like by the students.

But schools, like any other business, have their own standards, and it's doubtful the teacher would keep their position.

A student is a 5 - 18 year old kid. A teacher is a salaried professional who spent six years in college. The two aren't equally mature and should not be treated as such

[zazen]

23. one just got suspended in Raleigh for "criticizing" her class n/t

[Winterblues]

4. Bong Hits for Jesus

:shrug: was not protected speech...

[ProgressiveProfessor]

10. It was marginally associated with a school function

The precedents are clear going back to the 60s, off campus speech is protected speech even if it is about campus events. Recently schools have been trying to reach off campus, but this and other decisions should help put them back in their box. I have actively helped students to remain anonymous while doing so since despite the law, the schools will find ways to punish anyone they identify as being critical of them

[provis99]

5. If I were a teacher,

I'd want to know what students wrote about me on facebook, so I could punish the little shits later. Good ruling by the court.

[tinymontgomery]

6. Maybe the teacher

should start a facebook page about her and how she acts etc. Just no grades or counseling sheets.

[EFerrari]

7. This is just a variant of students compiling feedback on teachers.

Has been happening at colleges for many years.

[Psephos]

21. The only speech that needs protection is speech that someone doesn't like.

Something to keep in mind while weighing the case here.