Dozens of students suspended for Facebook cyberbullying

Dozens of students suspended for Facebook cyberbullying

www.king5.com

SEATTLE - More than 20 students at Seattle's McClure Middle School got suspended for joining a club on Facebook. A spokesperson for Seattle Public Schools says the Facebook page targeted one student in what she calls "cyberbullying."

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Has any of these adminsitration used Facebook? I can picture it now. Students spamming each other with the links to becoming a fan of different pages, and they are not even reading the text. Heck, I joined Facebook to read the news of my karate dojo, and started getting tons of spam relating to all these games.

The article doesn't mention the name of the group, but unless the group name itself is blatantly offensive, I dont' see how this is justified.

There is too much missing from the story to say if the school acted correctly or not, but at what point do we draw the line about what happens outside of school compared to school grounds.

Cyberbullying? In my area, a local kid beat up another local kid off school grounds and the school said they can't do anything about it - even with a copy of the police report given to them. However, if the kid did something online, they can then suspend him?

I just don't understand.

www.king5.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

It's really hard to say without knowing the name of the group they joined, it's more than likely not a game, such as the tedious Mafia Wars or many of the variants on farcebunk, as they would've stated it's a game.

There are plenty of groups for many different interests, some more positive than others... it was quite possibly a group such as "We All Hate Johnny Because He Smells Bad" or something less charitable.

Not really a story yet though.

reply to post by TLomon

In my area, a local kid beat up another local kid off school grounds and the school said they can't do anything about it - even with a copy of the police report given to them. However, if the kid did something online, they can then suspend him?

Maybe they're trying to nip this in the bud due to the Megan Meier Case and show a zero tolerance policy towards such activity.

reply to post by AshleyD
I agree, it's important to nip in the bud. Too many kids have lives that are dependent on Bebo and Facebook. I work with kids and know they can even have boyfriend/girlfriends without ever meeting. Some kids rely on the relationships that pass for physical interaction. They can be devastated by falling out with, essentially an unknown person. I've seen the effects of online bullying and been involved in the aftermath of supporting the victims whilst trying to show the bullies why it's wrong.

It's really sad that so many teenagers have virtual lives replacing traditional 'real' lives. On the other hand, if they lost their virtual lives, it doesn't mean that they'd go out be active forming 'real' relationships. Lol is no substitute for seeing and hearing our friends laughing!

I am familiar with the Megen Meier case, but my issue is this: Why are the schools looking the other way on physical bullying, but online bullying is not to be tolerated.

I don't think either are good things.

My question is why does the school system feel that it has the responsibility or even the right to discipline for what they do outside of school? I found nothing in that article saying that these kids were involved with anything on school grounds or during school hours. Furthermore some of these kids were suspended for just being fans.

Personally I think that the school has over-stepped its bounds. Bullying is not cool, and there should be repercussions for those with some involvement, but that is for parents to handle, not the school.

reply to post by AshleyD


Although i agree with your synopsis on their reasoning, I am TOTALLY against this PC "Zero Tolerance" being used so often. It trounces on the rights of the victims and the suspected perpetrators. It is totally lacking in common sense and is just a way for those in high office to easily remedy a problem they do not wish to handle properly!
Zindo