The Northern District Court of California court ruled in favor of the school district regarding its discipline of students in Shen et al. v. Albany Unified School District. This was a first amendment (freedom of speech) case involving five students who were expelled/suspended for posting and “liking” Instagram comments which were racist in nature toward black students and staff. Though the social media comments were made off school grounds and not during school hours, the federal court found that there was a “nexus” to the school (as most of the Instagram followers were students and the posts involved students and staff), and because it was “reasonably foreseeable” that the posts would reach the school and create a “risk of substantial disruption.”
November 2017
