Student Discipline Over 'Worst Teacher' Facebook Page Teaches School a Lesson
A federal magistrate judge in Florida has given the green light to a former high school student’s lawsuit against her principal, not only ruling against Peter Bayer’s motion to dismiss but saying that Katherine Evans had a First Amendment right to make the Facebook comments for which she was disciplined.
Katherine Evans, now 19 and a college journalism student, was an honors senior at Pembroke Pines Charter High School when she posted about “the worst teacher I’ve ever met” after apparently clashing with her English teacher over assignments. She took down her post a few days later; meanwhile, a number of those who viewed it responded with remarks defending the teacher. After Bayer found out, however, he disciplined Evans two months later, suspending her for three days and removing her from Advanced Placement classes, according to the Miami Herald and the New York Times.
Represented by the Florida chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, she sued seeking to wipe out her disciplinary record, asking for nominal damages and attorney fees.
“Evans’ speech falls under the wide umbrella of protected speech,” says Magistrate Judge Barry Garber in his written ruling on the motion to dismiss, the Herald reports. “It was an opinion of a student about a teacher, that was published off-campus, did not cause any disruption on-campus, and was not lewd, vulgar, threatening, or advocating illegal or dangerous behavior.”
Especially given the two-month gap between when Evans posted her comments when she was disciplined, it is clear the principal’s actions were intended to punish rather than to protect the learning environment, Garber says, noting that “the potential spark of disruption had sputtered out” before Bayer lowered the boom on Evans. The principal had asserted qualified immunity in his motion to dismiss, the two newspapers note.
He could not be reached yesterday by either newspaper, and the Pembroke Pines city manager declined to comment when contacted by the Miami newspaper.
Courts are likelier to uphold the authority of the school to discipline students for off-campus speech when it involves explicit or implicit threats of violence, professor Sam Terilli of the University of Miami tells the Herald. He teaches media law and ethics courses.
Related coverage:
ABAJournal.com: “Discipline Over Student’s Facebook Comments Sparks Lawsuit”
ABAJournal.com: “3rd Cir. Creates ‘Chaos’ with Conflicting Rulings on Student MySpace Principal Parodies”
