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SLHS Students Reprimanded For Tweets
Students, including two soccer players suspended from games, say they should be able to say what they want on their own time.
Can a school administration regulate what students say on social media during non-school hours?
That is what several South Lakes High School students are asking after they were reprimanded for their tweets recently, the South Lakes Sentinel reports. The tweets were sent when they were not in school.
The Sentinel reports the school's position that it is legally entrusted with the safety of all students in and out of school. However, some students believe that they have their right to freedom of speech, particularly during the weekend.
Seniors Mitch Dempster, Brian Kraus and Sam Campbell, along with junior Rachel Berman, were recently called into the school office for their tweets or their inclusion in other student’s controversial tweets.
“I think it’s against my rights and it’s unfair, Campbell told the school paper. “It has affected me physically and mentally.”
According to sources familiar with the situation, several of the students were visiting an older sibling at college. There was a picture that included a someone - it was not clear who or even if it was one of the students in question - holding a beer.
This was posted on social media, and someone told school authorities. A disciplinary hearing was held, the source said. Varsity soccer players Dempster and Kraus received a two-week suspension from games.
School security staff told the Sentinel the social media policy is outlined in the FCPS Student Rights and Responsibilities Handbook.
SRRH's section on Internet Safety and Security outlines the extent of the administrations’ capability to take action to search and punish students for their activities on the Internet. The language is somewhat vague in regard to social media and does not explain the exact parameters of the school’s jurisdiction over student’s online web pages and interactions.
Principal Bruce Butler says school personnel does not constantly monitor social media. He told the Sentinel in the case of these students, concerns were pointed out by non staff members.
Do you agree that the school should be able to step in if they don't like what they see on Twitter? Is this a good way to prevent cyberbullying or is it a violation of free speech?
Tell us in the comments.
Thanks. We'll email you the next time we update this story.
The Convict
1:36 pm on Wednesday, May 9, 2012
So the big question is, what were the Tweets? I would like to think that such measure were taken because of some extreme call to action (i.e. "Let's Columbine SLHS!") against FCPS but knowing FCPS, they might have just been voicing an unpopular opinion (i.e. "SLHS Sucks").
Bert Katz
1:46 pm on Wednesday, May 9, 2012
The tweets in questions had NOTHING to do with public safety...they were apparently pictures of kids that showed an alcoholic beverage, which I understand the kids were not even holding (have not seen the tweets, but this is what I got from others).
Personally, I think, we have gone too far to the other extreme of censorship...yes, theoretically, they signed the respecctive documents which I think say that should you be in an environment where drugs or alcohol may be present, you are to immediately leave...
These kids were not consuming, they were away from home at a relative's college campus, easier said than done...
Since the kids were NOT doing anything illegal (drinking, smoking, drugs, etc), I do not believe it is the school's job to monitor and censure and discipline what my kids are doing...what's next? kids having to leave my house because I happen to have alcohol on the premise or because I take a picture of the family raising a glass of wine to toast a grandparent's birthday or because the kids took a picture in front of Hooters?
It sounds like common sense has gone out the window...or as John Stoessel would say...GIVE ME A BREAK FCPS!
Karen Goff
3:10 pm on Wednesday, May 9, 2012
Thanks, Bert. I have been trying to find out what the tweets allegedly had in them. This gives me something to ask about.
PennySaved
2:10 pm on Wednesday, May 9, 2012
On the Sentinel story: "they questioned how the school had seen the tweets." SMH, amazed at how some people think their internet activity is private.
John Farrell
1:22 am on Thursday, May 10, 2012
Are you really"amazed" that teenagers are naive and uninformed of the evils of the adult world?
Deb Becker
5:11 pm on Wednesday, May 9, 2012
Doesn't hurt for high school students to be aware of the fact that communications on social media *aren't* private and *do* sometimes have consequences. Many people have discovered that excessive sharing is detrimental during job interviews, or when management gets wind of behavior that they can't condone in an employee. The sooner people learn this, the better.
Bert Katz
6:05 pm on Wednesday, May 9, 2012
@Deb, you are right...being aware of these new normals is a good thing...and should teach our kids some caution....
Having said that though...I have some trouble with, specifically, when a public sector entity gets to decide what is proper or not, especially when one has not done anything illegal.
Where i grew up, in the Romania of the 1970;s, we used to call this communism...
John Farrell
12:23 am on Thursday, May 10, 2012
Bert
I'm shocked, shocked that you would have anything critical to say of Bruce Butler's operation of SLHS.
When last we heard from Bruce, just one short year ago. he was calling Reston's teenagers "morally corrupt." And when he did apologize for that ill considered outburst, it was only for the typos!
Once a person concludes that teenagers are "morally corrupt," invading their privacy to analyze their afterhours tweets becomes an absolute imperative.
I'm truly happy to see that even you have limits to this mistreatment of Reston's children.
This tweeting surveillance comes as no surprise to those of us who knew that for 7 years former Vice Principal Tim Arrington regularly perused the entire memory of confiscated cellphones in microscopic detail looking for evidence of "unacceptable" off campus conduct.
Next will be the "community meeting" where the video cameras are imposed on Reston's kids, as is currently happening at Lee High School and West Springfield, whether we want them or not.
It's all part of the school to prison pipeline.
When are our School Board members going to put an end to these abuses of power by high school principals and their invasions of the dignity and privacy of Reston teenagers.
Kim
6:14 pm on Wednesday, May 9, 2012
I believe that if someone sees a tweet that makes them feel uncomfortable for their safety or someone else, they have the right to report it. From this article, I am understanding that a student may have reported this incident and not a school official. I do believe the kids have rights to freedom of speech but they need to think twice before putting their thoughts and pictures out there for the world to see. There was incident not too long ago where a student tweeted "that they might be the one to bring a gun to school" - even though they were kidding. Some students took i seriously (as I did) and reported it to school officials. That student was suspended for a week.
John Farrell
1:16 am on Thursday, May 10, 2012
And you think this was handled properly?
By your own description this tweeter posed no threat to public safety. It was a dumb teenage prank.
Forcing a kid to miss a week of school in an the age of "Race to No Where" is idiotic by any measure.
There should be consequences but they should do no harm to the kids education.
We should help that kid understand what pressures in his life led him to do something so potentially dangerous and show him another, safer way to handle those pressures.
Suspensions are the lazy way out.
independently thinking
8:28 pm on Wednesday, May 9, 2012
We have taken private behaviors, and made them public in the name of safety. School systems have far reaching-non court of law decision making that can/will affect a young persons adult life. As parents, you must question the power we have relenquished to the school systems..In the name of safety. It is "communism" in a more politically correct-justifying manner. Not at all the due process we think we are still entitled to but have collectively lost within our public school systems.
Uncle Smartypants
8:51 pm on Wednesday, May 9, 2012
Really? Is this what we've come to? It's not communism, it's Orwellian totalitarianism. Cameras everywhere, behavior constantly monitored,all in the name of "safety." It's tragic. I'm so glad I grew up in the 70s, when teenagers were allowed to make mistakes, fail, fall down, and learn from it. And I could legally buy beer less than halfway through my senior year. Our High School had a smoking lounge. We were allowed to make bad choices and learn from them. This is so messed up; are we creating a soft, coddled generation because we've shielded them from every single adversity we could? How is that good for the long term prosperity of our species?
The Convict
3:20 pm on Thursday, May 10, 2012
You also went to Herndon High in the '70's? I found it a PITA at the time but it was far more liberal then than these smotherfests that we send our kids to today. Frankly, it's a wonder that they're able to think for themselves.
Reston Resident
3:27 am on Thursday, May 10, 2012
This incident is absolutely ridiculous. I have seen the photographs, and they do not pose any threat to the safety of others. Additionally if someone had to see another person photographs on twitter they would have to go out of their way too. The suspension from athletics is counter-intuitive as this would free these individuals schedules up to go on more college visits....
restonresident
11:12 am on Thursday, May 10, 2012
Well, someone should be looking at their tweets because God knows their parents aren't. Perhaps if parents paid a little more attention to their kids tweets they would have a clue about what they are up to. For instance, the teenager who regularly tweets about parties at their house which line our streets with empties the next day.... or the same teen who tweets photographs of private memos on teachers desks so as to warn his/her buds of impending police sweeps. Technology is awesome. Parenting your children is even more awesome.
The Convict
3:25 pm on Thursday, May 10, 2012
Parenting your kid is awesome. And maybe the parent should talk to the kid about what's appropriate and what's not appropriate. But FCPS suspending the kid for a few pics of legal substances not only goes beyond the Pale, it also undermines parental authority.
Afriend
5:05 pm on Thursday, May 10, 2012
Ive seen the picture- ive read the tweets- ive talked to all these kids- and ive met their families. I have to say without a single doubt in my mind that these Families are some of the most respectful, generous, and upstanding i have ever met. The parents of these boys are terrific parents, who extend guidance and love to not only their sons, but beyond to their childrens peers.
These three boys are all IB students, terrific friends, athletes, and i have full faith in all of them succeeding in life, and helping to advance our country to fix the PREVIOUS GENERATIONS' <those punishing us> mistakes.
that being said we are all human, we all make mistakes, and im sure they will all learn from this- but the message learned will not be :OBEY THE LAW- it will be TRUST NOTHING AND KEEP EVERYTHING PRIVATE
which i guess is the american way...
I do believe that FCPS has abilities that verge on creepiness- and ultimately we all think the same truth -that its better to be caught by the cops and deal with law enforcement than the school- which is a scary thought.
I know ultimately the School board and Butler want to keep us safe, and im grateful for all of their efforts and dedication to me and each of the 170 thousand students in FCPS. but heres the thing- im a good kid- i break few rules and am always "on task" or "doing what i should be" at school- and yet im still SO uncomfortable with administration and my rights.its an atmospheric issue- because we should WANT to go to school
Don Joy
9:21 am on Friday, May 11, 2012
Meanwhile, in related news of dire national importance, The Washington Post runs a front-page story at the top of the fold about a high school prank by the teenage Mitt Romney in 1965, which provokes internet bloggers to point out an excerpt from "Dreams From My Father"(ghost-written by communist terrorist Bill Ayers) wherein it is described how Brokeback Obama bullied a little girl in grade school.
Hey I've got an idea. But it's not a NEW idea at all, mind you--let's absolve parents of any responsibility for raising good kids by spending trillions of dollars that we don't have on bloated, wasteful, corrupt federal "education" programs! We'll have anti-American communists like Bill Ayers in charge of it all, seeing as he and Obama did such a wonderful job with the millions upon millions of dollars for Marxist anti-American brainwashing doled out to Chicago schools through the Annenberg Challenge. By the way, Chicago's schools resemble a Liberian version of Lord of the Flies...
Mike
11:20 am on Friday, May 11, 2012
School administrators, not teachers, are way to overzealous with punishing what they deem inappropriate. Like other posts have said, it would be different if they were holding a beer.
The thing that has me perplexed is why does the school have access to view what they say on twitter? I kind of feel they got what they deserve because they were ignorant of maintaining the proper privacy settings twitter has available. In addition, if there is anything requiring school "monitoring," why don't they have a pseudonym account?
It's none of their business. There are privacy settings for these social media tools for a reason.