• E-mail
• Print
• Comment
• Font Size
• Digg
• del.icio.us
• Discuss article

School Suspends 5 for Internet Criticism A Catholic Spokeswoman Says the Postings on Myspace.Com Violated the School's Value System.

Posted on: Wednesday, 15 February 2006, 18:00 CST

By TIA MITCHELL

Five students have been suspended from a Jacksonville Catholic school for posting negative comments about a teacher and the school on an Internet site, school officials said Tuesday.

Assumption Catholic School Principal JoAnn Leskanic said the teacher discovered a Myspace.com page with negative comments about him about two weeks ago. When school officials visited the Web site, they found the offending comments. Another link listed in the "friends" section of the page contained a picture of the church and linked to another page that contained derogatory comments about the school.

School authorities questioned every Assumption student who was listed as a "friend" and had an identifiable picture on the pages. In all, about 30 students were interviewed with a parent present, school officials said.

Five middle school students were suspended. Leskanic refused release their names, specifics about the objectionable material, the length of the suspensions or when they went into effect.

"It's not in our value system to participate in that kind behavior on the Web site regardless if it was on school property or on their personal time," said Kathleen Bagg-Morton, a spokeswoman for the Diocese of St. Augustine.

Generally, the courts have allowed private schools to limit free speech of students, even when it occurs away from campus. A federal court in New York ruled in 2000 that a Catholic school student could not contest his expulsion after obscene material was discovered on his personal Web site because there is no expectation of First Amendment rights at a private institution.

On the contrary, courts have ruled that public schools cannot censor routine forms of speech ncluding personal Web sites.

"When you enroll in a private school, you are enrolling to whatever their credo or mission or standards. And their credo, mission or standards may include behavior outside of the private school environment," said Ken Hurley, president of American Civil Liberties Union of Jacksonville.

But Hurley said he disagrees with the decision to suspend the students.

"We would hope that we would enjoy freedom of speech in America. And even though a student is a student of a private school, what they do on their own time should be their own business," he said.

Jacksonville lawyer Gray Thomas agreed that private schools have more latitude to censor students.

"In general, a private organization can censor the speech of somebody who chooses to be a part of that organization and presumably has the choice not to be a part of that organization," he said.

Leskanic said the majority of parents whose students were involved in the Myspace incident credited the school for intervening.

"I would say all but one or two commented, 'Thank you so much. That is why we sent our children to this school.' We are trying to teach them values and we hold them to a higher standard,' " she said.

The school held an Internet safety seminar Monday for parents and students in seventh and eighth grades. School officials explained to the 250 parents in attendance how simple it is to track their students online.

"It was very easy for my staff to get on and navigate through Myspace.com," Leskanic said. "As soon as they put their pictures on they are vulnerable to whoever else is on Myspace."tia.mitchell@jacksonville.com, (904) 359-4425

Source: Florida Times Union

More News in this Category