Students suspended, expelled over Facebook posts

[Nopraptor]

I think that what kids say to their friends should be kept seperate from the schools intrests
because that kinda stuff screams 1984 (read the book I ain't gonna explain it) and yet for honour roll students those kids sure are dumb, if it's on the web EVERYBODY can see it

 

[Amberella]

Well I post stuff all the time about how much I hate my job and my boss!

I really hope they find out so maybe I could get fired!
And hopefully go on a nice long trip to the UK to visit my lover.

 

[Zykon TheLich]

Well, not sure I agree with the expulsion for saying the guy was bipolar but I certainly think the suspension for the other 2 was in the realms of a reasonable punishment. Depending on the details of what was said and how private the comments were it might be at the harsher or more lenient end of the spectrum.

 

[thecoreyhlltt]

maybe the teacher really is a "bi-polar, rapist/ pedophile"... anyone think of that?
this is just another example of schools enforcing ridiculous rules that they (school boards) only make to keep kids down. plus if you want to get technical about the "code" in question,

?Falsifying, misrepresenting, omitting, or erroneously reporting? allegations of inappropriate behavior by a school employee toward a student...

well unless they left something out, they didn't say the teacher raped them. and that really is a serious invasion of ones privacy by the principal. many a day i too was suspended for apparently "breaking the dress code". black bandanas are not gang colors is all i'm saying... that, and that teacher's a prick... and so is the principal... and good luck to the kids with their cases, it's high time someone took these "schools" down a peg...

 

[RN7]

This is why you should never use your name and information on Facebook. People you know will butt in and find shit out they don't need to.

 

[liveslowdiefast]

you think thats bad, if you say a single bad thing about our school on facebook (no matter how minor), you will get suspended. its just bullshit.

 

[Musiclly enhanced]

Well I suppose it could be classed as slander but I do think that there is an internet clause that states that internet stuff shouldn't and won't be taken seriously as evidence for a person's character..

Don't see that the students can be suspended by their teachers for what can only be a civil/ criminal case..

Glad I live in the UK..

i live in the UK and i got threatened to be sued by the council for slander because i made a group for my school and put the description as "its fucked up"
but another kid called a teacher a bellend on facebook and got excluded for a day
wheres the justice?

 

[Trivun]

I fully support the school here. Bitching about someone behind their back is worse than doing so to their face, and using Facebook to do it, in the public eye, is the worst of all. And I'm not talking out of my arse here. My own brother got into trouble for comparing his old headmaster to a Nazi a while back, on Facebook, and using a bunch of offensive and vulgar terms to describe him. The kicker is he had his headmaster on Facebook, who saw it and kicked up a fuss. My brother was extremely lucky to avoid suspension for it, though to be fair he was about to leave the school anyway and go to a different school for sixth form (his old school was a load of crap while his new school is actually pretty good).

So yeah, I have no sympathy for these students. I'm backing the school all the way here.

 

[Lord Kloo]

Well I suppose it could be classed as slander but I do think that there is an internet clause that states that internet stuff shouldn't and won't be taken seriously as evidence for a person's character..

Don't see that the students can be suspended by their teachers for what can only be a civil/ criminal case..

Glad I live in the UK..

i live in the UK and i got threatened to be sued by the council for slander because i made a group for my school and put the description as "its fucked up"
but another kid called a teacher a bellend on facebook and got excluded for a day
wheres the justice?

hmm.. I must be getting confused with something else..
thats bad, seriously the council should get one with proper things, and also suing is far too far for just making a group on FB.. the times we live in are weird times indeed..

 

[mklnjbh]

When the teachers can lose their job and have their license revoked because of a false accusation, then it is completely just for the students to be punished.

 

[Nemesis729]

Oh dear, Will the teacher recover?

 

[ReservoirAngel]

Two things with this:

1) don't accept teachers or members of staff from your school as friends on Facebook
2) schools need to stop punishing students for what they do outside of school time. when they're IN school grounds and ON school time, then hold then responsible. once they're off your property and not on your time, leave em the hell alone.

yes, calling your teacher a pedophile and a rapist is a stupid thing to do. i hardly think a couple of students making random facebook comments is going to destroy this guy's career.

 

[Daveman]

snip

But by that argument, if someone were to say, "Tomorrow at 8:45 A.M. I'm going to shoot up my school and kill my teachers." We shouldn't bother treating it as a threat because someone could mean "Tomorrow I WANT to shoot up my school." Regardless of what you truly mean, it's taking an opinion and stating it as fact, and I'm pretty sure an employer will treat it as a VERY serious problem if he sees one of the teacher's own STUDENTS calling him a pedophile.

Well obviously some things are context sensitive but as I am not a computer I am able to sensibly judge what is and isn't opinion. For example "OMG, I am sooooo gonna murder my fucking teacher!!!" on facebook is, more likely than not, just an expression of irritation rather than a genuine threat. My argument isn't that we take everything as an opinion, I'm saying we use our judgement to determine what is and isn't. Most people, myself included, do this relatively basic filtering of statements as a day to day thing.

What's more an employer would have to be completely retarded or from the technological dark ages to take a facebook status more seriously than actual facts like the man's record and the fact that no charges were even made, let alone debunked. Also that is clearly digging far too deep into somebody's past by finding a random, seemingly unconnected person mentioning somebody who may or may not be the person in question once in their facebook status. I'm pretty sure I could google myself and find similar grounds to not employ me.

 

[Thedutchjelle]

Why are people bringing free speech in on this? Hate speech doesn't really fall under that, imo.

And Facebook is still a 'public' area. Everybody can read it, so it's not like a private letter to a friend. His school was in the right on this one, in my opinion.

 

[dalek sec]

Considering that any suggestion of pedophilia or rape can permanently harm a persons reputation then they should definitely be punished harshly for using terms that carry such weight.

If it weren't for the particular language used then I would say that the school has no call punishing them for their activities outside of school. However they did cross a line and deserve to be punished for it. Maybe next time they vent they will be a wee bit more careful picking their words before posting.

I gotta admit, you could have just called them a "asshole" or a "dick" or something like that and they would do nothing. What the fuck did they think was going to happen when they used words that have the power to screw up a person's reputation like that?

 

[Chibz]

Well...

That's not nice.

At all.

Why even have such things as defamation if you can't prove them?

It's notoriously hard to successfully win a defamation of character case of any sort. If defamation of character cases were easy to win, tabloids would have no stories ever.

Why are people bringing free speech in on this? Hate speech doesn't really fall under that, imo.

You do realize that bringing up hate speech on a topic like this does nothing to enhance your argument, but makes the term "hate speech" mean even less... Right?

 

[agnosticOCD]

I am wondering, and somewhat concerned, why people are defending the kids on this one. Calling someone a paedophile or rapist on such a widely-viewed medium as Facebook could have extremely serious consequences. Never mind the fact that defamation of character (which such an allegation is should it be found baseless) is not protected by "Free Speech".

The teacher in question could lose their job, be ostracised by the community in which they live and even suffer assaults due to such allegations (whether the law declares them innocent or not).

In fact, such allegations are so harmful, and so serious, that is is likely the school investigated the matter itself, and found no examples of wrong-doing on the teacher's behalf, thus decided to take action against the students who presented false statements against the teacher.

I see absolutely nothing wrong with it. You wouldn't get away with it in real life, so why should children be given a free pass to potentially wreck the life of someone (presumably, by the lack of legal action from the school) innocent? Thus I support the school, and I would expect nothing less to happen to my children if they were to make similar comments about one of their teachers.

SNIP

So I guess you would be totally happy, if you work in a profession dealing with children on a daily basis, with someone putting up on Facebook that you are a paedophile and a rapist? Given all that such allegations can entail for your job prospects?

No, of course not, that's why I said I'd deal with it in a manner that won't harm the kids, and of course I'd make efforts for them to stop talking shit but not in any way that will get them into a tremendous amount of long term trouble. And most importantly, I'll make sure to do as much effort as I can to prove their statements wrong. I'm merely saying that I won't censor them, I won't harm them, I won't take away their education. I'll reason with them, I'll try to ask them why they had said those things in the first place, I'd make sure I'm not seen in a negative light for something that isn't true, but I would never impede on their lives in the way these teachers did. You're concerned about the job and the general social well-being of the teacher in question, I understand, and I am too, but why should you dismiss the kids just because they put the guy at risk? They don't deserve THIS HARSH a punishment, especially if their intent was never at all to get this guy into any harm.

 

[Superbeast]

No, of course not, that's why I said I'd deal with it in a manner that won't harm the kids, and of course I'd make efforts for them to stop talking shit but not in any way that will get them into a tremendous amount of long term trouble. And most importantly, I'll make sure to do as much effort as I can to prove their statements wrong. I'm merely saying that I won't censor them, I won't harm them, I won't take away their education. I'll reason with them, I'll try to ask them why they had said those things in the first place, I'd make sure I'm not seen in a negative light for something that isn't true, but I would never impede on their lives in the way these teachers did. You're concerned about the job and the general social well-being of the teacher in question, I understand, and I am too, but why should you dismiss the kids just because they put the guy at risk? They don't deserve THIS HARSH a punishment, especially if their intent was never at all to get this guy into any harm.

Labelling someone a paedophile, and getting into trouble over it, is not a matter of censorship - or is the fact that it is illegal to yell "Fire!" in a crowded theatre censorship too?

It doesn't matter what the kids' intentions were - calling a teacher a paedophile is a very serious matter - I believe (though I may be wrong, I'm not an American so aren't so up-to-date on the laws there) that it is legally required for any allegation of the sexual abuse of children (which calling the teacher a paedophile would fall under) to be investigated. Such an investigation would warrant the suspension of the teacher until they are found innocent - which goes on the teachers' permanent record and thus would mean they would be extremely unlikely to be hired for any position involving working with children ever again. It may well be that the powers-that-be did not see that there was sufficient cause for a full investigation after talking to the students, and thus did not need to suspend the teacher in question - however they need to make the point that falsely accusing a teacher of being a paedophile/rapist is extremely serious and thus they need a serious punishment.

To say that it is harsh on the kids, as it affects their future, may well be valid - however the school needs to be harsh; to prevent other kids of accusing a teacher of being a paedophile due to annoyance or a grievance for getting a bad mark, given the aforementioned dire consequences for a teachers' professional career merely at getting such an accusation. It is showing the kids that their actions have consequences - what if next time one of the kids' (or their friends') parents sees the remark and goes to the police? Or one of the kids makes the comment on school premises? Like I said, if my kids accused a teacher, even on Facebook, of being a paedophile I would hope that the school suspends them. In regards to paedophilia and those working with kids regularly, to use the vernacular, that shit shouldn't be taken lightly.

It will be interesting to see how the tribunal pans out, in regards to whether it being on Facebook or not counts, and whether such falls under "Freedom of Speech" (which it should not, IMO, because it is defamation of character, already illegal, however you try to spin it).

 

[Sovereignty]

Am I the only one pissed off that someone is getting real life ramifications over a post on the internet?

I could easily make a facebook account as a coworker I dislike and post that my boss is an douche-bag who wants to screw sheep. You're telling me that person would get in trouble over it?

Absolutely ridiculous.

When the internet is a safe place where we're all BOUND to our names and no one can post things claiming to be us sure. But until then this is bullshit.

But an honor student who doesn't know how to lie and say someone else must have gotten access to her account and done it? Well she's obviously not going far.