Cheerleader Snapchat Leads To ‘Momentous’ Supreme Court Case On Student Speech

Snapchat Posts Don’t Always Disappear

A 14 year old’s Snapchat story post that she assumed would “disappear” has turned into a referendum on students’ rights to free speech under the First Amendment when they aren’t physically at school.

The School Says

The school district contends that the First Amendment doesn’t “force schools to ignore student speech that upends the campus environment simply because that speech originated off campus”, noting that “wherever student speech originates, schools should be able to treat students alike when their speech is directed at the school and imposes the same disruptive harms on the school environment”.

The last time the Supreme Court took up a case with any kind of similarity regarding student speech was in 1969 in𝑇𝑖𝑛𝑘𝑒𝑟 𝑣. 𝐷𝑒𝑠 𝑀𝑜𝑖𝑛𝑒𝑠 𝐼𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑝𝑒𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝐶𝑜𝑚𝑚𝑢𝑛𝑖𝑡𝑦 𝑆𝑐ℎ𝑜𝑜𝑙 𝐷𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑖𝑐𝑡, well before cell phones and social media. The 𝑇𝑖𝑛𝑘𝑒𝑟 case found that schools 𝗖𝗔𝗡 discipline students for on-campus speech that causes or probably would cause “material and substantial” disruption of school functions. (𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑐𝑎𝑠𝑒 𝑓𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑖𝑛 𝑞𝑢𝑒𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑑𝑖𝑑𝑛'𝑡 𝑟𝑖𝑠𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑚𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑎𝑙 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑠𝑢𝑏𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑡𝑖𝑎𝑙 𝑑𝑖𝑠𝑟𝑢𝑝𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑜𝑓 𝑠𝑐ℎ𝑜𝑜𝑙 𝑓𝑢𝑛𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑠)

Key Distinction

A 𝐤𝐞𝐲 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 between 𝑇𝑖𝑛𝑘𝑒𝑟 and this case is that we lived in an 𝗔𝗡𝗔𝗟𝗢𝗚 society in 1969. It doesn’t take into consideration how the digital world has allowed us to “go” to school without being “on campus” or how social media has changed the way we communicate. 𝐻𝑜𝑤 𝑑𝑜 𝑤𝑒 𝑎𝑛𝑠𝑤𝑒𝑟 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑞𝑢𝑒𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑜𝑓 𝑤ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑎 "𝑚𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑎𝑙 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑠𝑢𝑏𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑡𝑖𝑎𝑙 𝑑𝑖𝑠𝑟𝑢𝑝𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑜𝑓 𝑠𝑐ℎ𝑜𝑜𝑙 𝑓𝑢𝑛𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑠" 𝑚𝑒𝑎𝑛𝑠 𝑜𝑟 𝑙𝑜𝑜𝑘𝑠 𝑙𝑖𝑘𝑒 𝑖𝑛 𝑎 𝑝𝑜𝑠𝑡-𝑎𝑛𝑎𝑙𝑜𝑔 𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑙𝑑?

Why is this case important to EVERY parent?

— Your kids 𝗔𝗥𝗘 going to share something at some point that they probably shouldn’t have shared. Kids 𝗗𝗢𝗡'𝗧 think about potential consequences before they post and usually don’t consider the lenses through which others will view their posts.

— Regardless of how the Supreme Court decision goes, 𝗘𝗩𝗘𝗥𝗬 parent needs to spend time talking to their kids about how their posts can affect their future. It’s up to parents to teach their kids the rules of the road when it comes to online sharing and to understand that once you hit the “post”, “share”, or “enter” button, you can’t control who will ultimately see what you shared or what those people might do with your content.

We need to teach our kids that even if you make a mistake and share something you shouldn’t and then delete it from the platform where you posted it, once it’s out there, you 𝗖𝗔𝗡'𝗧 control who screenshots and saves it or what they’ll do with it once they have it on their device (even if it’s only been online for a few minutes before you take it down).

— If your child goes to a private school, this ruling doesn’t necessarily apply to you. Most private schools have strict honor codes that students and parents must agree to in order to attend. So, if that code outlines policies on disrespectful speech, for example, if you violate that code regardless of whether or not you’re on or off campus, you’ll be subject to whatever consequences are outlined in the school’s policy.

— Just because the First Amendment guarantees us the right to free speech, it doesn’t guarantee that your right to speak your mind 𝗪𝗢𝗡'𝗧 come with unintended consequences.

Keep an eye out for what happens in this case and take some time to talk to your kids about your thoughts on free speech and appropriate use of social media

Source: Washington Post