Social Media, School Districts

Decoded: Technology Law Insights - V 4, Issue 4, April 2023

Spilman Thomas & Battle, PLLC on 4/25/2023

Tech Vendors and Cybersecurity – Are They Responsible? It has long been recommended that when you contract with a technology vendor that you include an indemnity clause in the contract wherein the vendor will indemnify you...more

Teacher Reinstated Following TikTok Post Featuring Explicit Song and Suggestive Dance Moves

Tucker Arensberg, P.C. on 2/20/2023

Cent. Valley Sch. Dist. v. Cent. Valley Educ. Ass’n, 2022 Pa. Commw. Unpub. LEXIS 482 (Pa. Commw. Ct., Nov. 7, 2022). In an unpublished opinion the Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania upheld the decisions of an arbitrator and...more

School District’s Discipline of Students for Off-Campus Speech Affirmed by Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals

Franczek P.C. on 1/18/2023

A recent Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals decision held that school officials did not violate students’ First Amendment rights when disciplining them for off-campus social media posts that amounted to severe harassment...more

Pennsylvania Supreme Court Clarifies Standard for School District Regulation of Off-Campus Speech

Tucker Arensberg, P.C. on 6/22/2022

In J.S. by M.S. v. Manheim Township School District, 263 A.3d 295 (Pa. 2021), Pennsylvania’s highest court took a step toward clarifying the sticky issue of school districts’ ability to discipline students for off-campus...more

Going Viral: Navigating Social Media within the School Community

Fisher Phillips on 6/2/2021

Social media has transformed how we interact online and engage with our communities with the average person spending over six hours a day online. Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, we have seen an even greater increase...more

They Said What? First Amendment Issues in 2020

Franczek P.C. on 10/16/2020

A presidential election like no other in history, a global pandemic causing an unprecedented economic and emotional toll on our communities, and a remote learning environment where virtual communication reigns, whether in the...more

Schools May Expel Students for Personal Journal Entries

Pullman & Comley - School Law on 4/17/2019

We have previously discussed the tension between a school district’s discipline for social media posts and the protections of the First Amendment. Indeed, as the United States Supreme Court said in Tinker v. Des Moines...more

#NeverAgain? How Schools Should Respond To Student Protests

Fisher Phillips on 6/8/2018

After the February 14 tragedy at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, students began to organize like rarely before to protest gun violence in schools. Protests such as school walk-outs and “die-ins”...more

New Legislation Leaves Illinois Schools “Locked Out” of Student Social Media Accounts

Franczek P.C. on 9/1/2015

Recent amendments to Illinois law draw back on rights of post-secondary, secondary, and elementary schools to request or require access to student social networking accounts such as Facebook and Twitter. School districts and...more

Another Circuit Court Recognizes Schools’ Right to Discipline Students for Off Campus, Online Misconduct

Franczek P.C. on 8/27/2015

In a recent case, the Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit joined four other circuits in recognizing the right of school districts to discipline students for at least some off-campus, online speech if the speech reasonably...more

How Does the Supreme Court’s Recent Facebook Decision Impact Schools?

Franczek P.C. on 6/3/2015

In a recent decision, Elonis v. United States, the U.S. Supreme Court held that in order to convict a man for alleged threats made against his wife on Facebook, the prosecutor must show some level of intent. It was not enough...more

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