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Student Press Law Activity 2

Case Overview: My case involves at least 20 Oregon high school students who got
suspended on February 11 for retweeting a tweet that accused a teacher of flirting with her
students. The alleged tweet was posted on a school confessions account and said, Ms. Dupree
always flirts with her students. Her son's name is Cougar too (Salem Confessions 1). The tweet
was favorited 76 times and retweeted 52 times. The twitter page that this tweet was posted on is
a student run page that posts submissions from students in the Oregon region, not just from the
high school. Most of the students were suspended for two days (Daz 1). The subject raised lots
of news attention and upset the parents, so the parents of the suspended students worked together
with the school to change the punishment. The case has not been taken to court and the students
dont look like they plan on taking legal actions against the school. The school involved is
McKay High School.
Local legislature: McKay High School is a part of Salem-Keizer public schools, or
Oregon School District 24J. The countrys rights and responsibilities handbook says that the
policies apply to students even when theyre off school premises when such conduct involves
threats or harm to students, staff and/or district property. The tweet involved in this case
occurred off of school property, but it involved an accusation of a staff member. Technically, this
tweet infringed on the schools policies. The handbook goes into more detail by saying, Acts of
hazing, harassment, sexual harassment, intimidation, bullying, cyberbullying and menacing will
not be tolerated by student to student, staff to student, or student to staff, so the students were
clearly in the wrong. As far as punishment for cyberbullying, the handbook says, A student
found to have falsely accused another as a means of reprisal, retaliation, or a means of hazing,
harassment, intimidation, bullying, cyberbullying or menacing, shall be subject to disciplinary

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actions. The handbook doesnt clearly state what the punishment will be for cyberbullying, it
leaves it up to administrators to decide. The administrators choice to suspend the students may
have been harsh, but did not break any rules (Salem-Keizer Public Schools 1).
State Legislature: The countys rules about cyberbullying coincide with Oregons laws.
The alleged tweet fits under the states definition of cyberbullying, which says, Cyberbullying
means the use of any electronic communication device to harass, intimidate or bully. However,
the state law qualifies cyberbullying when it Takes place on or immediately adjacent to school
grounds, at any school-sponsored activity, on school-provided transportation or at any official
school bus stop. The state's definition DOES NOT include off-campus behavior, so the countys
rights and responsibilities handbook does not coincide with all of the states laws. (Definitions
for ORS 339.351 to 339.364. 1). However, I emailed Peggy Holstedt of the Oregon School
Board, and she told me that the schools actions were acceptable because the state laws serve as
guidelines rather than rules. She said, Oregon is a very strong local control state where the
handbook is developed by the district for district students. Guidance does not come from us or
the state (Holstedt 1).
National Legislature: Tinker vs Des Moines set the precedent that speech in school is
only illegal if it interferes with other students ability to learn. This tweet did not interfere with
learning, as it did not even occur during school hours or on school grounds. Kevin Daz, legal
director of the ACLU of Oregon, wrote in a letter, Here, the student speech at issue took place
off-campus and involved no threat of violence whatsoever. Past case law does not suggest that
school officials regulation of that speech was even remotely appropriate. When students are off-
campus, their First Amendment rights are equal to everyone elses (Daz 1).

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Community Response: The community seems to be against the schools decision to
suspend the students. I corresponded with the communications director of Salem- Keizer Public
Schools, Jay Remy. He told me, The system worked. The school gave discipline consequences
and some of the parents disagreed with it. So the parents worked directly with the school and
they modified the consequences (Remy 1). Additionally, an article written about the case
mentions letters sent in by angry students. Students also left comments expressing their disgust.
Other commentators, however, seem to be in agreement with the schools decision, but these
commentators dont go to the school or live near the school (Fosmire 1).
What the schools actions mean: The schools actions show that the community favors
the safety and wellbeing of its staff over the freedoms of its students.

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If this happened at Blair: I think that if this happened at Blair, the consequences would
be nowhere near as severe as they were at McKay. Blair has had multiple confessions pages in
the past, many of which tweeted mean and even libelous things. If anybody was ever offended
by the tweets, they simply contacted the person who ran the twitter and asked him or her to take
the tweet down. If administration ever found the page, then the person who ran the page either
stopped using it or deleted it. Also, Blairs policies are different than McKays. Salem-Keizers
policies
prohibit
bullying off-
campus as
well as on-
campus,
while
Montgomery
Countys only prohibit bullying on-campus.





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Works Cited
Definitions for ORS 339.351 to 339.364. OregonLaws.org. WebLaws.org, n.d. Web. 3
Apr. 2014. <http://www.oregonlaws.org/ors/339.351>.
Daz, Kevin. ACLU of Oregon. 14 Mar. 2014. PDF file.
Fosmire, Laura. ACLU responds to suspensions of McKay students over Twitter.
Statesmanjournal.com. statesmanjournal.com, 15 Mar. 2014. Web. 3 Apr. 2014.
<http://www.statesmanjournal.com/article/20140315/NEWS/303150022/ACLU-
responds-suspensions-McKay-students-over-Twitter>.
Holstedt, Peggy. Personal interview. 31 Mar. 2014.
Oregon school may reconsider suspensions given to students who retweeted
Confessions post that called teacher a flirt. Student Press Law Center. Student Press
Law Center, 19 Mar. 2014. Web. 3 Apr. 2014.
<http://www.splc.org/news/newsflash.asp?id=2693>.
Remy, Jay. Personal interview. 1 Apr. 2014.
Salem Confessions. Twitter. Twitter, 11 Feb. 2014. Web. 3 Apr. 2014.
<https://twitter.com/SalemConfession/status/433506721802121217>.
Salem-Keizer Public Schools. Student Rights and Responsibilities. 2013-2014. PDF
file.