In the article, “YOU DECIDE School Social Media Free Speech Case” (BTW) we see that there was controversy on whether or not a school system should punish a student for their actions outside of school. The student, Brandi Levy a cheerleader with hopes of making the varsity cheerleading team, did not make the team. Levy was furious, she took her anger onto social media and she published a post that included vulgar language and obscene gestures (middle finger). Levy’s school stepped in and punished her for her actions, suspending her from all cheerleading activities (1 year). Many people wondered if the school had the right to punish the student. The parents filed a lawsuit against the school and ultimately won. The school believed they should intervene in certain situations, and this was one of them. The school may have felt that there was a threat toward the school’s varsity cheer squad or the varsity cheer squad may have taken offense, which could be classified as bullying (cyberbullying). The supreme court disagreed with the school, the ruling was 8-1 in favor of the levy. The supreme court believed that the school violated the First Amendment Free speech right of the student. Schools have the right to intervene when bullying or harassment, threats (toward teachers and students), academic misconduct, online schooling, & hacking are present.
Should private social media posts be regulated by school administrators?I believe that Levy should have not been punished. To me, it seems that she was expressing her anger, which she has the right to do, but she could have handled the situation differently. She could have talked to the coaches and asked “coach, how can I become a better cheerleader, in what areas do I need to improve in that would put me in a better position to help the team?”. Taking this route would have solved the problem instead of making the problem worse. When we are full of anger, we tend to do certain things that we may regret, which is why we must think through every decision we make.
Dear Christopher:
I am shocked by your post “Social Media Free Speech”because a cheerleader was suspended from all activities for 1 year. Personally i disagree because a student should not be punished for something that happened outside of school. And it seems that we both have the same answer for your question “Should private social media posts be regulated by school administrators?” I also believe that she was only expressing her anger and had no right to be punished.
-Anthony
I think your views on this article are interesting and very insightful. I agree with all of your points and I think this is an especially important topic, as we are in high school and social media is something that virtually everyone uses. I believe that social media should be used in healthy ways, but if it is being used for anything but spreading positivity, I think it is an outlet that should not be utilized. I liked the alternatives to social media you came up with, and you really made me look at this topic differently. Thanks for writing, I hope to read more of your posts in the future!
I really thought your take on this article was interesting. It was nice to see that people are continuing to take action about whether social media should continue to be used as what it is, or should we change it to become a less important, more positive outlet. Overall, I agree with your points, as it is something that is present everywhere, specifically in high schools.
Dear Christopher,
I enjoyed reading your post about whether or not schools (both private or public) have the right to get involved in situations on the internet. I believe you are correct in that the school has no business with what you do outside of school unless you are threatening individuals involved in the institution. I believe this is a complex topic because we are currently living in a world where social media partakes in a huge part in the lives of adolescents and there are millions of kids who are very serious and protective of their phones and their privacy. I believe that adolescents have a right to communicate their beliefs through social media, however, threatening or targeting certain individuals is not appropriate at all.
Hey Christopher! Your article intrigued me because I feel that social media plays a huge role in our society today. I believe that social media is meant to be a way to express yourself with no punishment. Schools shouldn’t be able to punish you for something outside of school unless it directly affects them. I can definitely see why the school would think that her post was directed at them but instead of punishing her, maybe they could have talked to her to see what her intent behind it was. I loved how you mentioned an alternative to what she could have done. “Coach, how can I become a better cheerleader, in what areas do I need to improve in that would put me in a better position to help the team?” This could definitely be used as a teaching moment for everybody, especially students. We should be watching what we post because you never know who will see it. Anyways, thank you, Christopher. Your insight on this topic and the way you came up with alternatives to what she could have done was very nice and I look forward to seeing what you post next.
Dear Christopher, I am very intrigued by your discussion post regarding freedom of speech on social media. Mainly because I wrote about the same article and it’s very interesting to see someone take on the same topic but have an opposing point of view. You made several great points which made the reading all the more interesting and enjoyable.
One or two sentence in the particular that stands out to me or anyone is that when you stated that “she could have talked to the coaches and asked ‘coach, how can I become a better cheerleader, in what areas do I need to improve in that would put me in a better position to help the team?” I really like how you list a more enterprising alternative to her decision.
Thanks for writing! I look forward to seeing what you post next, due to how well you articulate yourself. To be mention how this writing was interested it to you that take on certain topics.
Dear Christopher, I am very intrigued by your discussion post regarding freedom of speech on social media. Mainly because I wrote about the same article and it’s very interesting to see someone take on the same topic but have an opposing point of view. You made several great points which made the reading all the more interesting and enjoyable.
One sentence in particular that stands out to me is when you state “she could have talked to the coaches and asked ‘coach, how can I become a better cheerleader, in what areas do I need to improve in that would put me in a better position to help the team?” I really like how you listed a more proactive alternative to her decision.
Thanks for writing! I look forward to seeing what you post next, due to how well you articulate yourself. Not to mention how interesting you take on certain topics.
Hello Christopher
I am interested by your post, “Social Media Free Speech,” because it touches on an important topic regarding technology and freedom of speech rights. While it may be true that the student could have handled her situation better, it was her expression in her own platform and for that reason is was wrong for her school to punish her.
A line that stood out to me in your post was: “The school believed they should intervene in certain situations, and this was one of them.” I think this is rather concerning about what types of content a school might punish its students for. A school could unfairly punish students for activism or self-expression related posts.
Thank you for your post. I would enjoy reading a follow-up on the topic of Freedom of Speech and technology because I think its an issue that is not only affecting schools, but other institutions and society itself. It would be interesting to read about how this issue is being handled in other situations.
Jade
Christopher:
This post is great! It’s a topic I wholeheartedly agree with. My school is struggling with the issues you spoke about. To help make your opinion more powerful, I sometimes will remove the word “I” completely, because it’s an opinion piece so your beliefs are implied :).
I think that schools shouldn’t regulate private social media, but if a student’s concerning behavior online has been brought to the school’s attention they should have a meeting with the parents and student about it. I really liked this article
Dear Christopher,
I am amazed with this post because i’ve had the same question myself your post made me believe it wasn’t right for the school to punish the student because it wasn’t on school grounds and should be ruled as freedom of speech. One sentence you wrote that stood out to me was, “The school may have felt that there was a threat toward the school’s varsity cheer squad or the varsity cheer squad may have taken offense” because it shows how they say the cheer squad could be offended but i believe it’s the school who was offended. Thanks for writing and i’m looking forward t your next writing because your topics are interesting.
Dear Christopher,
I agree with your post social media free speech. I agree that the school should not have tired to punish her, I also agree that she could have handled the situation better.
one thing that stands out to me is when you said “she was expressing her anger, which she has the right to do’ this stood out to me because even though the school tried to punish her just for expressing her emotions she was still legally allowed to say it.
Thank you Christopher for bringing this situation to attention! As you stated there was definitely a way that Levy could’ve handled the situation better on her part. Although she took out her anger in a way that could be taken totally wrong if it was her private account then the school should not have control over that. You brought up the question “Should private social media posts be regulated by school administrators?”. Honestly, I feel like there is a fine line because if those private posts are about personal matters then the school doesn’t necessarily have the right to but if it is about bullying then the school needs to crackdown. Cyberbullying is extremely common as stated in this article: https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2018/09/27/a-majority-of-teens-have-experienced-some-form-of-cyberbullying/. Yet, in this case, the school shouldn’t have taken action.
Christopher, I think what you said here is a very interesting take on the situation. I definitely think this situation could have been handled better than it was. Personally, I do think this person deserved to have some type of punishment, but what they decided to do was a bit harsh. I think she should have had a chance to explain herself to the faculty first before she faced any punishment. https://www.stopbullying.gov/cyberbullying/what-is-it
Dear Christopher, I strongly agree with your opinion because the school has no authority over what you do outside of school. “To me, it seems that she was expressing her anger, which she has the right to do, but she could have handled the situation differently”. She definitely could have handled this situation in a more mature manner, she messed up by being childish and not talking about this situation.
I agree with this comment, Chris. She should not of been punished at all. I liked how you said she could’ve reacted in a different way. “She could of talked to the coaches and asked , coach how can become a better cheerleader, in what areas do I need to improve?” https://flourbluffschools.net/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/Social-Media-Policy-Template-for-Education.pdf
I think the school has no business in what happens online or outside of school unless the online threats were made directly towards the school itself or if there was another student from the school getting cyberbullied online. I have to agree with Levy on this one but I don’t condone her actions by getting furious on social media and posting vulgar things. There are other ways to handle anger besides that.
Hi Christopher,
I agree with your core point; outside of outright harassment and bullying, the actions of students on social media should not be the concern of school administrators and is outside a school’s “jurisdiction,” so to speak. If a student has a grievance about a school, they do have the right to air that grievance and should not fear repercussions. There is an important distinction to make at this point; schools can and occasionally do accept feedback, and complaining on the internet, while sure to generate a lot of reactions, usually doesn’t do anything good since all it generates is outrage and anger. That being said, it is unfortunate that the only way people feel that they can be heard is by generating an outrage on Twitter or the like.
Thanks for the post, I’m surprised I haven’t heard about the entire lawsuit until now.
I totally agree with you Christopher, I believe that the situation could’ve been dealt with differently if she communicated with the cheer staff on her flaws. “The supreme court believed that the school violated the First Amendment Free speech right of the student”, it just shows how the staff and school should’ve taken her comments as a threat especially if she was saying how she feels. Thanks for your writiing and hope to talk more about our freedom of speech, I link I think is nice; https://law.stanford.edu/projects/regulating-freedom-of-speech-on-social-media-comparing-the-eu-and-the-u-s-approach/
I’m with Christopher on this one, like he said she did have a right to react the way she did. I feel like they could’ve handled the situation differently and better.
https://www.stopbullying.gov/cyberbullying/what-is-it