Here's an interesting one, heading to the SCOTUS:
https://www.yahoo.com/news/cheerleaders-vulgar-message-prompts-first-131037750.html
Social Media has led to tremendous amounts of social bullying, and that is a huge problem in schools, especially in an age where suicides have greatly increased among teens.
Schools want to be able to extend their campuses, virtually, too.
https://www.cnn.com/videos/tv/2021/01/02/cheerleaders-first-amendment-case-could-go-to-scotus.cnn
Should schools be allowed to punish students for their off-campus speech? Or does the 1st Amendment protect such speech?
Does it vary depending on what was said or how it was said or is it an absolute, one way or the other?
Sounds familiar, Josh.
I think schools have a responsibility to create a safe environment for learning. Now that virtual school is becoming a norm, that challenge will certainly get to be more difficult. I think it might depend on where it was said.
Do we want the government moderating student's speech off-campus? Not me.
Don't think schools have a vested interest in doing so, unless they can prove that they are doing so to stop an assault---and even then, the police would have to be involved with that---4th amendment issues, seem to arise as much as 1st, when you think about it.
But I'm not a lawyer. So it will be interesting to see how this case is argued.
Yes, the same case. I think I even responded to yours, though I would have to look. I think I discussed a prior SCOTUS case involving a kid and his Bongs 4 Jesus sign - which came down against the kid, as it was a school sponsored event (going to the parade) and the sign was ostensibly promoting illegal drug use (pretty questionable).
This one, as the girl points out, was not a school event nor was she wearing anything with the school's name on it.
Bullying, as you pointed out, is a big problem - on line and off. Schools have seldom been very good at responding to it even when it was taking place in their hallways and classrooms (nor have teachers been exempt from being the bullies). I don't know that having 'policing' power over social media conduct is going to lead to greater effectiveness on the school's part.
This is not obviously a response to the legal question, though as ever the dictum against having laws you cannot enforce comes to mind.
Legally, defining bullying (or harassment, for that matter) is problematic, but the harassment guideline is not a bad one and it may be that we "just" need to bring it down to that level, much as I cringe at that notion. Making the place a hostile environment should not be permitted. I just think the school probably needs to be reporter, not enforcer, as you suggested.