CNN.com – Student���suspended for viewing MySpace posting – Mar 2, 2006

Sniff, Sniff…I smell a Supreme Court case (if it makes it that far).

1 student posted threats against another student on his/her blog. Student gets expelled. Good. He/she deserves it and there is a clear case of this act, outside of the schools walls, will impede the educational process. Case closed.

However, 20 students were suspended for VIEWING the posting (outside of the school on private computers, over private networks, etc). The school is seriously over-stepping their bounds. There’s no way that this will hold up to any judicial scrutiny.

With the school’s reasoning, someone could send me (student) a letter, with the same content as the blog posting, and as soon as I open the letter, I am guilty.

I’m all for schools regulating what is created or accessed at the school or using school resources. I’m even somewhat ok with schools holding students to a code of conduct when they are participating in extracurricular activities. But I have to draw the line when a school can restrict what a student reads at home.