2nd Circuit Allows School Oversight of Social Media

http://ow.ly/88HYW

This is an article courtesy of Law Technology News and appearing on Legal Technology Bytes.


This article discusses the fact that Federal court in the 2nd Circuit has shown approval for the monitoring of social media by schools administrators.

The article looks at the case of Doninger v. Niehoff, 642 F.3d 334 (2d Cir. 2011), and a link to the case opinion is provided.


The article looks at precedent cases as to whether school official can discipline students whom are using their free speech rights. The article states, " , the 2nd Circuit explained, school administrators may prohibit student expression that will "materially and substantially disrupt the work and discipline of the school," and offensive speech that would receive full constitutional protection if used by an adult in public discourse may, consistent with the First Amendment, give rise to disciplinary action by a school."

In this case the student's punishment for a critical blog post was that the student was barred from running for class office, the court found this punishment to be reasonable based on the circumstances. The article states, "The 2nd Circuit emphasized that it was not concluding that school administrators were immune from First Amendment scrutiny when they reacted to student speech by limiting students' participation in extracurricular activities. In this case, however, it found that it was objectively reasonable for school officials to conclude that the student's behavior was potentially disruptive of student government functions and that the student was not free to engage in that behavior while serving as a class representative -- a representative charged with working with these very same school officials to carry out her responsibilities."