In what seems to be a growing trend among school districts across the United States, students are being monitored--and punished--by their schools, for the things they post on social websites, like Myspace.
Is it the job of the school to punish students for content that is posted on a privately controlled website?
I am not sure if the answer is so easily clear cut.
Although, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is monitoring such cases, some of which have gone before federal courts already. The ACLU is worried that the fear of retaliation by an individual's school may work to curb freedoms enjoyed under the First Amendment.
In essence, students should expect that their personal communications will be protected by the Constitution of the United States, via the First Amendment's protection of the freedom of speech, but at the same time they must be wary that such communication can become extra-constitutional when it goes as far as to limit the freedoms of another individual, through the direct--or indirect--threat of pain or injury.
The question still remains: should schools be the entity to provide punishments arising from verbal threats against other students made on privately-owned social websites?
Surely, any administrator or teacher, who works within a school, and has reasonable knowledge of impending injury toward a student, is within their rights to take necessary precautions to safeguard that student. In the end, however, there is an entity that exists to deal with such matters, which take place outside of the school campus, and that is the police, and to a greater scope, the judicial system.
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