A 'new low' for student free speech? WV-Myspace-student

[CoolBreeze]

VIRGINIA — Students can be punished at school for their Internet postings, even if made off campus, a three-judge panel of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Wednesday.

In upholding the discipline of a West Virginia high school student whose MySpace group contained crude insults about another student, the Fourth Circuit found the speech firmly within the school's jurisdiction because it was disruptive to the high school and interfered with the ''rights of other students to be secure and to be let alone.''

Kara Kowalski sued Berkeley County Schools after being punished for creating the group, "S.A.S.H." that appeared to target a fellow student at Musselman High School. The group, which Kowalski says stands for "Students Against Sluts Herpes," contained several statements insulting "Shay N.," including one student's allegation that the acronym actually stood for "Students Against Shay's Herpes."

Kowalski was suspended and put on social probation, including removal from the cheerleading team, when Shay N. and her parents brought the issue to the school principal and the school determined the group was a "hate website."

More....
http://www.splc.org/news/newsflash.asp?id=2258

(AP) A federal appeals court on Wednesday upheld the suspension of a West Virginia student who created a web page suggesting another student had a sexually transmitted disease and invited classmates to comment.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/201 ... sion_n.htm

[amayo]

It will never hold up on appeal to the Supreme Court. The 4th Circuit has the highest rate of reversals in the country. They have a history of making silly decisions like this, and I suspect this will be overturned with no problem.

[genlock]

"Crude insults about another student"?
That just about sums up my high school experience.
My whole life really.