Student’s careless Facebook post nearly leads to expulsion
From wire service reports
Read more by staff and wire services reports
"There's a lesson to be learned," Michelle's father said.
A Virginia high school senior won’t be expelled for making a thoughtless, off-color joke about her English teacher on Facebook—but her father says other students can learn from his daughter’s mistake.
The Chesapeake school division on Nov. 9 dropped its recommendation to expel Hickory High School senior Michelle Edwards. Instead, she will be suspended out of school for 90 days but will be able to graduate with her class, said her father, John Edwards.
“There’s a lesson to be learned. I think a lot of kids can benefit from what Michelle did,” he said. “She knows she did wrong. She’s paying for her mistakes, and she doesn’t want to see other kids in the same situation. It’s so easy to post something and not be able to take it back.”
Edwards posted the note Oct. 19 after she and a friend were given a lower-than-expected grade—93 percent—on an English essay. The teacher called part of the essay “incoherent,” and the friend was upset, so Edwards said she commiserated using sarcasm.
“I say we shoot our english teacher in the face,” she posted on the friend’s Facebook wall. “But then again we might not be able to carry that out since we’re so incoherent.”
Another teacher saw the post and reported it, and Edwards has been suspended ever since. School officials recommended her for expulsion, and she was waiting for her hearing before the school board until Nov. 9.
Now that the expulsion recommendation has been dropped, she’ll continue her studies with the help of a teacher sent to her home, her father said. After 90 days, she’ll return to school, and at the end of the year she will be able to graduate with her peers.
“My daughter was trying to make light of the situation,” the elder Edwards said. “It was a poor choice of words. She made a sarcastic statement, and the next thing you know, it’s turned into a full-blown mess.”
misterexp
November 10, 2011 at 8:18 pm
It’s unfortunate that happened, but it prompts another curiosity about why a teacher is a friend with a student on facebook. I know it varies by state and district in terms of online policies regarding teachers adding students as friends if they’re not at least 18 or what not. I’m curious what the rules are at Edwards’s school around that. Had they not been friends, maybe none of this would’ve happened.
scjackson
November 10, 2011 at 9:14 pm
The post still would have happened but the student would not have been caught.
mastermcdaniel
November 10, 2011 at 11:24 pm
“Had they not been friends, maybe none of this would’ve happened” (misterexp).
Really? A student publicly threatens a teacher with violence (regardless of whether or not it is a joke) and your solution is not to monitor students’ social posts? Bad joke or not, her actions were unacceptable. If she cared that much about her grade, she should have asked the teacher for some time to discuss the evaluation and increase her learning and correct any miscommunications. Should she have been expelled…no, but the suspension is a perfectly adequate correction measure for the situation. It gives the chance for everyone to step back, assess the situation from all perspectives, and move on without creating animosity through further contact while the issue is still a sensitive matter.
By the way, I do have a “school” Facebook page for my students to interact with me and I have found that it is a very useful tool to help evaluate students outside of the classroom in social settings and try to help teach them appropriate behavior and conduct. I also use it to keep up with what is going on in their lives and to get to know them more as an individual while also sharing some of my life with them. Most students see teachers as inhuman or alien in some fashion. The more we can come to relate with them and for them to understand us as people and fellow learners, the better we are equipped to foster the kind of learning environment and instruction that will promote their success in life.
kevinsmith5
November 14, 2011 at 4:07 pm
I’m pretty sure that courts have ruled that school systems can no more ban teachers from having students on their Facebook than they can ban teachers from talking to students they see in the grocery store. School systems that do ban teachers from internet contact with students end up looking like technophobes or technology illiterates (which they often are). It doesn’t make much sense to insist that grown-ups not have any access to what kids are doing online….
thespis
November 14, 2011 at 8:40 pm
As someone who has been involved online since the early days, I think it is very important for teachers to address & teach netiquette. One of our former students formed a FB page for alumni, and at first there were some very crude comments from a handful of students. I communicated to the student who started the page and suggested that she create a posting policy and add some other admins to the page to keep things civilized. The student then made me an admin along with some other alumni! I accepted and now we have a great discussion board. Every now and then we have to remove a post, but with a few thoughtful reminders to everybody (“Remember, this is a public page and anyone, including future employers and college recruiters can read your comments.”) we have created a space where people can share their school memories without resorting to crude language.
nwillard804
November 15, 2011 at 6:48 pm
Excuse me, but the school has no authority to discipline this student. This was clearly a joke. No one would legitimately consider this a true threat.
The federal courts have consistently stated that schools cannot discipline students for off-campus speech if that speech has not caused, or there are good reasons to believe it will cause, a substantial disruption at school. There is no evidence that such disruption occurred – or could be reasonably predicted.
Students have a constitutional right to express their opinions about school staff (government officials). “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or *abridging the freedom of speech,* or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and *to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.*
Our founding fathers called King George a “tyrant” in the Declaration of Independence.
Suspending a student for this period of time is clearly unreasonable. A restorative intervention that ensured that the student understood the need to avoid posting comments such as this and apologized to the teacher for the harm that was caused should have been sufficient.
Nancy Willard, author of Cyberbullying and Cyberthreats (Research Press) and Cyber Savvy: Embracing Digital Safety and Civility (Corwin Press).
ldavis807
November 21, 2011 at 6:43 pm
Nwillard,
In reply to your post there are a few things missing. First of all the words “Let’s shoot the teacher in the Face” are not an opinion, but a direct threat. Second of all it is unclear from this article what type of disruption occured in the classroom environment or the school environment. We do not even know if the post happened during school hours or after school hours. The fact that I am reading about this and responding to it as a resident of Pennsylvania would make me think that perhaps it is more of a disruption than we know about. Do not forget that it is still illegal to yell Fire! in a crowded theatre. Certain areas of speech can be controlled to a degree. The schools have “In Loco Parentis” rights which allow them a bit more discretion when dealing with the speech of youngsters on campus. I personally believe the spirit of the constition when it was written by our founding fathers, never envisioned the broad audience that our young people could reach with their spontaneous words. Just food for thought when pontificating on free speech rights.
ctdahle
November 15, 2011 at 6:53 pm
Personally, I have little time for Facebook and similar social media sites, however, the current generation of children will need to effectively harness these, and other media tools not yet invented.
Adults, and especially teachers need to learn to use these tools responsibly and effectively so that they are positioned to guide children to do the same. To suggest that students should not be interacting with teachers via social media is to suggest that adults should not play a role in helping children learn to be responsible digital citizens.
Instead of trying to prevent interactions between teachers and students via social media, schools should be actively promoting it. If students knew that as a matter of routine, teachers were equally involved in social media, I suspect they might be be a bit more thoughtful before engaging in online bullying and other inappropriate digital behaviors.
dippitydo2
November 18, 2011 at 6:30 pm
It’s too late to blame the technology for existing. It’s also wrong to play down the seriousness of the post.
I teach in a small town, and many teachers are “friends” with teens on Facebook because they know them through their own children, etc. You can’t stop them from being friends. I know better than to be any student’s friend, but as they get older I may reconsider it.
A coworker of mine gets onto Facebook and in a matter of minutes can troll FB to see what students post…it’s been very helpful. And for the person who thinks students have the freedom of speech? You’re wrong, it doesn’t apply when it comes to any indication of violence. If they really don’t mean it, they shouldn’t write it. If you put it out there, it’s on you. If we don’t come down hard on students for this sort of stupidity, it will be aped by many many more. I already have enough to worry about.
melbail
November 22, 2011 at 3:09 pm
Maybe part of her punishment should be to learn the meaning of the word “incoherent”!