Cyberbullying: Where Does the School's Authority End?

As schools and law enforcement officials grapple with increased cyberbullying (according to the national law enforcement organization Fight Crime: Invest in Kids, one out of every three teenagers are victims of cyberbullies), the question of what authority and place the schools have in the issue is coming to the fore. Fight Crime recently introduced a young woman at a press conference who related how some kids at her school had created a web site that called for her death, then harassed her for several years with phone calls and e-mails, even after she transferred schools. Although most speech is protected by the First Amendment, threats are not and students need to know that threatening comments in general-on the Internet or not-could subject them not only to school discipline but also to criminal punishment. On the other hand, most student speech is protected, even if insulting or hurtful. The issue is further complicated by questions about whether cyberullying takes place on school property or not. School officials do not generally have control over what students do outside of school, but even this issue is complicated. Students who threaten or harass other students using school equipment or during school time can most likely be sanctioned, but even students who do such things from home face the possibility of school discipline under the "substantial disruption of the educational environment" ruling from the Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District case from 1969. The bottom line is that this is a tough issue to handle, because legal guidance is scarce. The Supreme Court has not yet considered a case of student Internet speech, even though Internet speech has created numerous questions about anonymity, liability, and slander that need to be answered. For help in talking to your students about this issue see Cyberbullying: Not Just Name Calling. Make sure you also know what your school's policy on this and other kinds of harassment.