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Friday, October 30, 2009
Ind. Courts - "School sued for punishing teens over MySpace pix"
An AP story by Charles Wilson is already receiving national attention. A few quotes from the lengthy story:
INDIANAPOLIS — Two sophomore girls have sued their school district after they were punished for posting sexually suggestive photos on MySpace during their summer vacation.The American Civil Liberties Union, in a federal lawsuit filed last week on behalf of the girls, argues that Churubusco High School violated the girls' free speech rights when it banned them from extracurricular activities for a joke that didn't involve the school. They say the district humiliated the girls by requiring them to apologize to an all-male coaches' board and undergo counseling. * * *
The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Fort Wayne, names [Churubusco Principal Austin] Couch, the high school and the district as defendants and seeks unspecified damages. No hearing has been scheduled. * * *
The ACLU argues that the Indiana case is different. They say the photos were a joke intended to be shared only with friends. It wants the school district to expunge all references to the incident from school records and seeks to bar the school from taking similar action in the future.
"The problem is there's a line drawn. And the line is drawn as things that disrupt the school. And outside of that, the school has no say," Falk said.
"Imagine if everything teens texted back and forth to friends became fodder for school discipline."
Posted by Marcia Oddi on October 30, 2009 03:30 PM
Posted to Indiana Courts