In an absolutely chilling development, a middle school student in Minnesota is suing her school district and her local county sheriff for looking in on her Facebook posts.
The 12-year-old sixth grade student, identified in court documents only as R.S., was on two occasions punished for statements she made on her Facebook account, and was also pressured to divulge her password to school officials, the complaint states.
"R.S. was intimidated, frightened, humiliated and sobbing while she was detained in the small school room" as she watched a counselor, a deputy, and another school employee pore over her private communications.
The lawsuit claims that her First Amendment rights were violated by employees at Minnewaska Area Middle School, in west-central Minnesota, as well as her Fourth Amendment rights regarding unreasonable search and seizure.
The Minnesota ACLU is working with R.S. Read the full complaint
here.
R.S. claims the principal somehow got his hands on a post she made criticizing a hall monitor--even though the post was not made on the school's bandwidth. She was slapped with detention and forced to apologize. She then angrily wondered who turned her in, cussing for effect. Somehow the principal found out about this post as well, and suspended her and banned her from a school ski trip.
The most chilling incident came a few days later, when another student's guardian complained that R.S. had a conversation about sex on Facebook. She was haled into the office with a counselor, another school employee and a deputy sheriff, and browbeaten into giving up her Facebook password and login information. At no time did they seek permission from her mother.
The school district claims that R.S. was engaging in conversations that "contributed to a disruption of the learning environment" and made others feel unsafe. It also implies that R.S. was engaging in cyberbullying. Yet, if that's true, why wasn't she suspended after being called into the office for the third time?
From my perspective, the school district has some serious explaining to do.