Student: Principal forced deletion of Facebook posts

[The Straight Story]

Student: Principal forced deletion of Facebook posts

A 13-year-old girl who called her teacher a pedophile online says her principal ordered her to log onto Facebook so she could read the offending post and ensuing responses by her friends.

The investigation by Douglas County school officials resulted in the suspension of Alejandra Sosa and two other Chapel Hill Middle School students. They could face harsher penalties, including banishment to a school for children with behavior problems, when they go before a tribunal March 10.

Alejandra told the AJC in an interview that included her mother Thursday that she regrets what she posted Feb. 17. She said she is drafting an apology to her teacher. She also said the school principal violated her privacy by taking her to a school library computer Monday and ordering her to log in to her Facebook account.

Principal Jolene Morris took over the keyboard and read what Alejandra and others had posted before ordering the student to delete the posts, Alejandra said.

http://www.ajc.com/news/student-principal-forced-deletion-858326.html

[mike_c]

1. I believe that is called "adult supervision...."

Sometimes 13 year olds can benefit from paying attention to it.

[Boswell]

3. a lot of "grown-ups" need it too...

[mike_c]

4. true that, LOL!

eom

[walldude]

2. No sympathy for this kid.

You don't go around calling people pedophiles. It ruins lives.

I remember the mad dash in the 80's, the McMartin case and a couple others where people were falsely accused of abusing kids and it ruined their lives not to mention the lives of many others.

[Shagbark Hickory]

6. It's possibly the only crime that needs no evidence to convict...

just some kids pointing fingers.
Just like the mcMartin case yopu mentioned.

[walldude]

10. Remember that shit, they were practically lynched on the spot

and I didn't learn till years and years later that it was all bullshit. I had to see it on an HBO documentary.

[Shagbark Hickory]

5. Those are incredibly serious accusations that can ruin careers and lives.

And they don't require any evidence.

Assuming this was not true, it's libelous and needs to be taken down and the actions taken seem quite reasonable.

[The Straight Story]

7. While I agree, the question here is: did the principal overstep bounds?

It is not his web site, not his login, etc - suspend the student, send her home and tell her mom to have her do it, etc. Was he in his rights to make her delete something on an account that is not his?

[Shagbark Hickory]

9. Did he hold a gun to her head or did he tell her to do it so her parents

wouldn't get sued?

[nadinbrzezinski]

11. Hmm no... he did not

the teacher was under his supervision, so was the kid. If he did not and mom did not care would a lawsuit be better?

[ProgressiveProfessor]

18. Priincipal and the school district overstepped big time

Off campus is off campus. Schools can not bring that on to campus and then meet out discipline for that. It is rock solid in the precedents that date back to underground newspapers in high school.

In the past when schools did this kind of thing they end up paying the student and expunging the record.

[madinmaryland]

8. Sorry, but the issue is NOT that she was asked to delete the post, but that

she FALSELY ACCUSED of her teachers of PEDOPHILIA.

Even the hint of sexual impropriety, is enough to destroy the career of just about anyone who deals with minors.

THIS IS FUCKING SERIOUS.

[MineralMan]

12. +100

[RB TexLa]

13. And you know the accusation is false, how? All you have is someone accused of something using their

position of power over the accuser to force them to do something. The principal wanted something and used his power to get it.

[madinmaryland]

15. Did you actually read the OP??

:wtf:

[MineralMan]

16. I suspect not.

[RB TexLa]

17. others had posted before ordering the student to delete the posts

she was ordered by a person an adult in power over them to remove the accusations. And apparently threatened with being sent to another school.

[madinmaryland]

19. Do you have a link to those post(s) to support your assertion??

Thank you.

[RB TexLa]

20. It's in the link in the OP that you asked if I read

Alejandra's mother, Maria Sosa, said officials called her to the school Tuesday and offered her a choice between the expulsion of her daughter for the rest of the semester with enrollment in an "alternative" school, or a tribunal with potentially harsher consequences. She initially selected expulsion, but decided, like the parents of the two other children, to face the tribunal.

Principal Jolene Morris took over the keyboard and read what Alejandra and others had posted before ordering the student to delete the posts, Alejandra said.



http://www.ajc.com/news/student-principal-forced-deletion-858326.html

[madinmaryland]

22. Again, if you read on...

"Alejandra said she created the Facebook post because she was mad at one of her teachers. When she got home, she said, she wrote on the social networking site that the man was a pedophile."

I have a daughter at that age, and seeing the way the girls interact, it is not unlikely that this happened. Actually reading the facebook pages of her friends, this is not surprising at all.

[RB TexLa]

23. After being forced to remove it and threatened with being expelled

[madinmaryland]

24. Can you explain that to me?

PM me if you are concerned about other things.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

25. And forcing the student to allow acces is also a felony

[MineralMan]

14. In 1962, some student at my high school sent an anonymous

letter to the school board saying that one of the teachers, a French teacher, was a Communist. He almost lost his job. A bunch of us, who were Juniors at the time, showed up at the school board hearing to vouch for this teacher, who was an outstanding teacher and mentor. I remember speaking to the school board, myself. I made the point that anonymous accusations said more about the accuser than the accuses, and speculated that someone who had gotten a bad grade in the class had probably attempted to take revenge. I asked the school board members what would happen if someone wrote such an anonymous letter about them. Oddly enough, few adults showed up to address the school board on this. It was the students who stood up for the teacher.

Several other students spoke in similar terms. The issues was dropped, and the teacher continued to teach there until his retirement in the 80's. He died a couple of years ago. He was a favorite teacher for many students, and took extra time to help students who were having trouble in his and other classes. He was a class act, all around.

[derby378]

21. +100 (n/t)