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Cheerleader sues school over Facebook debacle
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Give me a L! Give me an A! Give me a W-S-U-I-T!
What does that spell? Big, fat cash settlement!
Yes, the battle over social media (re: Web sites like Facebook) and first amendment rights continue.
According to Mashable.com, a high school cheerleader from Mississippi is suing her school administration after her cheer coach forced her to hand over her Facebook password (sidenote: the girl had never used Facebook at school and her page was marked as private).
According to the story:
"Tommie Hill, a cheer teacher and sponsor, allegedly used that info to log in to Jackson’s account and, disseminated the information within Jackson’s Facebook account to fellow Pearl High School teacher, dance and cheer sponsor Tiffany Durr, cheer trainer Corey Byrd, Principal Ray Morgigno, Superintendant John Ladner, and other unknown individuals."
Apparently, the result of spreading that information around led to the cheerleader being humiliated and banned from cheer practice and other school events.
Sadly, the article doesn't give us the most juicy part, which of course is just what kind of information was on the teen's page.
But regardless of what it was, does a school have the right to coerce a password out of a student and then share that student's private information among the faculty?
That is the question.
Personally, if the girl's page was private and she wasn't wasting time on the Web site at school, I don't think the administrators have a leg to stand on with this one.
Just goes to show you, we could all be a bit more careful what we put out there in cyberland.
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Comments
The cheerleader will win the case hands down. Even though she was coerced out of her password, the end result is defamation and mental abuse. Online, we should all be mindful of what we post, but we should also be mindful of what we could be subjected to if we compose and diseminate sensitive information and abrasive opinions. I'm still on the kids side. I do hope she benifits from the expierence before she resumes her networking, private or not.
August 3, 2009 at 1:39 p.m.Why does the term HEN DOOKEY or Chicken sh..crap come to mind here?
August 1, 2009 at 2:31 a.m.What I or my child does at home is our buisness. If an employee is on facebook at work, write them up. If a child if on facebook, detention. Forcing a password and snooping into a personal account is just wrong.If it was an adult and someone forced my password to a bank account to gain information on me it would be a crime. I don't care if the child said she hated the school and wanted to quit. That is still her right and freedom of speech. The schools need to stay out of the kids and parents buisness. They have too much control as it is. The school was wrong and I hope she wins the lawsuit so that other schools and teachers will learn to butt out.
July 31, 2009 at 1:04 p.m.the teacher can only forward email/info on a a student she directly teaches and info was be in regulations of FERPA. This was not ferpa. hmmm. wow.
Now if its on the schools server then the school can search but again keep it within the know. peroid.
We dont know all the facts but schools/parents should inform every kid/employee about social networking/emailing/texting, etc and the consequences.
July 31, 2009 at 12:27 p.m.I agree. What someone does in the privacy of own home is her business.If it involved something like she was going to kill someone, then yes it should have been searched by a govt or police officer, but a school official, if it was for other info, no.
July 31, 2009 at 12:15 p.m.