Social Media, Texting, Schools And Discipline: Students Beware
By Michelle Ball, California Education Attorney for Students since 1995 With the explosion of social media sites, such as Facebook , Twitter , and the like, along with almost constant texting and other electronic communication between students, schools have entered a new era of discipline. Parents need to be aware of this and caution their children about who may be watching (or find out about) what they post, text, email, or otherwise communicate. It used to be that schools would hear a report of nefarious activity and would only have traditional investigation techniques to rely on (interviews, searches). No more. Now they have "written" evidence available on the internet and phones. Schools still have to conduct their version of an investigation, however, their investigations often become much easier with the proof lingering on electronic devices and phones. Postings can be misinterpreted as somehow being sources of substantial disruption or threats to the school whic...