Cyberbullying and schools: where does a principal’s authority end?
Proposed legislation on cyberbullying might do well at addressing free speech concerns as well as educating students in the public application of media law. Regarding the First Amendment:
This is obviously an extreme example of what can happen, but it’s a reminder of why legislation is even possible. Although most speech is protected by the First Amendment, knee-jerk “You can’t regulate free speech!” reactions aren’t helpful in this case, as free speech protections are a complex field of law. Threats, for instance, aren’t protected. The First Amendment Center, which looked into the issue, says that “true threats are not protected by the First Amendment. Students should be aware that threatening comments in general—on the Internet or not—could subject them not only to school discipline but also to criminal punishment.”
However, instad of running to the courts some states are wisely putting discipline in the hands of the school districts–who might be more familiar with the intricacies of a given problem.
So how is Washington [state] handling the issue? State senator Jeanne Kohl-Welles has introduced SB.5288, a bill that would require school districts to create cyberbullying prevention policies. Her legislation does not lay down many rules, instead directing each school district to amend its current anti-bullying policy (all Washington school districts have had such a policy in place since 2002). Cyberbullying would not become a crime, but simply another issue for local school districts to handle.
While there is a possibility that in public schools, this could become state-sponsored speech supression, in most cases I’m sure it’s best to leave it to the locals. Unfortunately, it may not do much to educate children to be responsible Internet citizens.