California Teen Avoids Suspension for Facebook Status, Thanks to ACLU

back in oh, '78 or so, when I was about 15 or 16, I had a teacher that I just did not get along with. I wanted out of his class. Went to guidance, they agreed a change was in order, but the teacher wouldn't sign off on it. That teacher called my home to speak to my parents and when I answered the phone I informed him that they didn't care to speak to him because they though he was as much of a jerk as I did. The next day I was called down to the principles office and received a 3 day suspension for calling that teacher a jerk. I took my punishment and might have even learned something about respect from it. Guess I should have contacted the ACLU and learned that there is always someone that has your back even when you are out of line.

Once again, a kid is taught you are not responsible for your actions. When someone is held accountable for their actions, there is always someone there to protest. What kind of adults are our kids going to be?

I am all for freedom of speech, so what happens with the teacher goes on their Facebook page and starts to rattle on about the dolt headed addle brained student that they have in their biology class? Is the ACLU going to protect their same freedom of speech? I doubt so. Besides, their are Board of Education rules that would get a teacher suspended or fired for doing the same thing. Then the teacher would be slapped with a law suit for ruining Johnny or Susie's self esteem. And the lesson is that someones always got the student's back, but there never seems to be anyone anymore that has the teacher/educator's back.

The boy's parents just missed a teachable moment. This was a prime life lesson that could have aided that boy far more than even the biology class he despises: what you choose to do has consequences. If you are prepared to pay the price, do as you wish.

It's that some parents won't let their child learn a lesson every young person needs to obtain---that there is a price to pay for certain actions. One day of suspension is a fair price for insulting his teacher. What the foolish mom is missing is this: the boy was not sitting in the grass insulting a professor as she did in the old days. He wrote it, made it terribly public, and put it in cyberspace forever.....

JDvark is painfully right: the ACLU will not protect that teacher should the situation occur in reverse.

Lye has alot to be desired.

The only CLOUT the ACLU has is the threat of a lawsuit. It wasn't about 2 people coming to an agreement about any statements made. Take away their ability to sue and the ACLU is nothing. NOTHING!

This is absolutely ridiculous. That kid's personal Facebook page, is his personal Facebook page. Who hasn't said some unflattering things about a teacher? And for a student to "rat him out" -- come on! that's the ridiculous part of the story right there!

when my son sounded off at an adult that had upset him I made him take it down from his page. Sounding off in private, verbally isn't the same as putting it in writing in a public forum. The first is hearsay, the second is evidence.

Was the teachers name listed? Such as Linda wrote here If verbal it is speculation . If written it is evidence. Not quite, If the teachers name was listed, then it is evidence. If no name, then it is speculation, even if any local friends know who is being talked about, there is no definitive proof of who is being libeled. The same should be in force for the instructor if he/she vents about some snot nosed, pimply face,mentally incompetent teen.

Once again the vile ACLU has chosen the WRONG side of an issue. A one day suspension is a mild punishment for his behavior, but obviously the ACLU feels children should not be held accountable for their actions. Yeah, nice going ACLU, this trend is going to make things MUCH better. Can't have any discipline in the classroom, after all, since public schools are already such models of efficiency and the ideal learning environment. Most people haven't a clue how diseased ACLU thinking is in general, and they continue to foolishly hand them money hand over fist. Do a little reading, people, the ACLU is NOT your friend.

a suspension for calling his teacher a jerk and fat ass comments placed outside of school such as in facebook? he did not threaten in any way or form! he was only "expressing" his own. one of his facebook friend is a traitor! the adults are mature and they should know better! they have gone too far! i'm so glad that ACLU took over and protect his rights! or should all children be banned from having a voice for themselves??? children needs to speak up and expresed their own feelings...or should all children hold up their own feelings and bottled up?

Just another reason I am changing my career field to medical from Legal if a student is able to sue and win for being suspended for one day there is no justice he needed to be taught a lesson.

Are you kidding me? If my daughter did something like that I would be asking the school to EXTEND her suspension AND add on a special project that was somehow a service to the teacher or school.

FB is a public forum, not a private conversation or 'vent' - not to mention discussing a persons physical stature in a derogatory way is simply wrong. If he does this with teachers I have to wonder how he speaks to or about other kids.

These parents should be prepared for a future of legally bailing out their kid in adulthood, because they have just established for their kid that he need not have public respect for anyone.

I just don't see why his parents would defend such nasty, boorish speech like that, even if it is free. If the child were complaining about the work, or the class itself it could be understandable, but to personally attack the teacher like that is entirely out of line. If it were my child, I would make the suspension in-school with an extra project. I'm so sick of seeing kids get their huge egos and senses of entitlement backed up like this. I am also completely disgusted by the way everyone thinks its okay to say such harsh and cruel things about people who are overweight.

I would be the first to agree the kid was acting like a jerk. Unfortunately, the parent thinks it is not an issue, and it is the parent, not the school that has the responsibility for correcting her child. This is not a school matter- it was placed in a non-school site. Students do have rights of expression outside of school, and to give schools the right to search off-school sites and punish for things expressed away from school is very wrong. The kid is a jerk, the mom is a jerk, but if it is not punishable by law outside of school, the school needs to know it has boundaries too. The school is not and should not be the big brother that forces behavior away from school.