Student Faces Expulsion for Web Post
Here is a prime example of what is very likely to happen in Libertyville/Vernon Hills with there new rules on the possibility of disciplinary action for blog posts. A student in Plainfield, IL is facing expulsion for a web post in which he said he was being bullied by the school district. School districts and teachers don’t like being opposed. It seems many of them are very thinned skinned.
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A 17-year-old student who posted on his blog site that he was being bullied and threatened by the Plainfield School District will face an expulsion hearing this week, a local attorney said. Superintendent John Harper, who cannot comment on student cases, said the district will take action if it believes there is a safety issue. Meanwhile a spokesman for the American Civil Liberties Union said school districts must be careful not to discipline students on matters that occur outside school. The student’s attorney believes Plainfield School District is overstepping its boundaries. “The district is going to take away the student’s education for exercising his freedom of speech,” said attorney Carl Buck. “I feel like they are trying to control his freedom of speech. … He is saying, ‘You can’t bully people and we have a right to object and you can’t throw people out of school for voicing their opinions.’” On May 1, the student posted a letter to Plainfield School District on www.xanga.com , telling off the district, using vulgar words and saying he could put whatever he wanted on his site. On a second post on May 2, without mentioning the school the student wrote: “I feel threatened by you, I cant even have a public Web page with out you bullying me and telling me what has to be removed. Where is this freedom of speech that this government is sworn to uphold? … Did you ever stop to think this will start a community backlash? The kids at Columbine did what the did because they were bullied. … In my opinion you are the real threat here. None of us ever put in our xanga’s that they were going to kill or bring harm to any one. We voiced our opinions. You are the real threat here. you are depriving us of our right to learn. now stick that in your pipe and smoke it.” |
