Teen suspended for Facebook remarks but is it freedom of speech?

Question — If you posted rude comments about one of your teachers on a social networking site like Facebook and the remarks were then discovered by the school; would it only be fair that you got in trouble or are the comments within your constitutional right of freedom of speech?

That is exactly the issue in question at a California high school where a teenage student was recently suspended for making negative “fat” remarks about one of his teachers.

The controversy began when 15 year-old Donny Tobolski made a status update on his home computer, calling his biology teacher a “fat a**” who should stop eating fast food and is a “d*****bag”. The comments were reportedly made after the teacher “assigned more homework than usual” back in December.

The school eventually got their hands on the comments and requested that Tobolski take the statement down as well as apologize. He was also suspended a day for “cyberbullying” which is when the American Civil Liberties Union opted to get involved.

The ACLU claimed that the student’s Facebook post was “protected under the state and federal constitutions as well as the Education Code” and the punishment was ultimately lifted. The statement added,

“Schools have an obligation to provide a safe school environment (but) petty comments, insults, ordinary personality conflicts…don’t rise to the level of harassment.”

Do you agree or disagree? What constitutes freedom of speech online?

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