Principal bans blogs - even off campus
Rev. Kieran McHugh of Pope John XIII Regional High School in Sparta, NJ told an assembly of 900 students that anyone caught blogging would be suspended The Asbury Park Press reported today. McHugh said the primary motive was to protect the students from Internet predators as he told students to dismantle their sites on MySpace and Xanga or face the consequences.
The student handbook for Pope John XIII did not until this announcement prohibit posting personal information on the Internet. It did prohibit posting anything about the school without the school’s permission.
Sounds like a free speech issue to me! There have been court rulings on similar issues, okaying certain school rules, but none as comprehensive as this one. I will have to look up the particular cases, but the trend is that courts approve restrictions on free speech on the internet and in school publications when that speech directly interferes with the school’s ability to do it’s work. For instance, the courts allowed a high school to shut down a website where a student made death threats classmates and teachers. Sorry this is so garbled - I haven’t cracked that media law book in a while. I’ll get back with some case law.
Comment by robin — October 25, 2005 @ 12:51 pm