In the aftermath of “bong hits 4 Jesus” otherwise known as the supreme court case that set an interesting precedent about the rights of a student’s free speech. The Supremes ruled that school administrators could censure speech even if it was not physically on school property. And thus we get, from the Courant:

A Lewis S. Mills High School student who was barred from running for class office after she called administrators a derogatory term on an Internet blog is accusing top school officials of violating her free speech rights.

Avery Doninger, a senior at the school in Burlington this fall, was removed as class secretary in the controversy last May. She is asking a state judge to order the school superintendent and the principal to reinstate her as secretary of the Class of 2008 and allow her to run for re-election in September.

Lauren Doninger of Burlington, the 16-year-old student’s mother, filed a lawsuit Monday on her daughter’s behalf in Superior Court in New Britain.
…
In the Lewis Mills student’s case, according to Doninger’s lawyer, Jon L. Schoenhorn, the student had a right to express her opinion in a public forum outside of school-sponsored activities. He cited a ruling from the U.S. 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals, which has jurisdiction over federal appeals in Connecticut, New York and Vermont, that prevented school administrators from punishing students for expression that took place off school grounds.

The Doningers say Principal Karissa Niehoff and Region 10 Superintendent Paula Schwartz violated Avery Doninger’s constitutional right to free speech when the two officials punished her for what she wrote April 24 in a blog entry on her home computer, complaining that a battle of the bands-type jam session at the school had been canceled.

Doninger referred to school administrators as “douchbags” (sic) when she posted the entry on livejournal.com, a virtual community where users can write web logs, diaries or journals.

Although the Doningers say Avery was wrong to use that word and the girl has apologized for it, they accuse school officials of overreacting.

“The school had no business reaching into our home to decide how she should be disciplined,” Lauren Doninger, an addiction studies and psychology professor at Gateway Community College in New Haven, said during a press conference Monday in Hartford at Schoenhorn’s office.

Schwartz is out of the country and could not be reached for comment. Niehoff also could not be reached for comment. Other school officials did not return calls for comment.

Niehoff told WVIT-TV in May that school leadership positions are a privilege, not a right.

The details according the lawsuit are classic.

On April 24, according to the lawsuit, school officials told Doninger and the other student council officers that a “Jamfest” scheduled for April 28 could not be held in the school auditorium because there was not a staff member available to run new equipment. The event is an annual battle of the bands organized by the student council in which local musicians perform for the community, according to the complaint.

Another student council member sent an electronic mail message that day to high school parents and students, encouraging them to call the school board for Region 10, which covers Harwinton and Burlington, to express support for Jamfest. Doninger was among four students to sign that message, but it was drafted and sent by another student, according to the lawsuit.

When Doninger encountered Niehoff in the school hallway, the principal scolded her for the message and said the superintendent was angered by it and that Jamfest might be canceled, the lawsuit says.

Later that night, about 9:25 p.m., Doninger used her personal computer to post the entry on the blog.

“Jamfest is canceled due to the douchbags in central office. Here is an e-mail that we sent out to a ton of people and asked them to forward to everyone in their address book to help get support for Jamfest,” she wrote. “Basically, because we sent it out, Paula Schwartz is getting a TON of phone calls and e-mails and such. We have so much support and we really appreciate it. However, she got pissed off and decided to just cancel the whole thing all [sic] together.”

Needless to say I think Avery was right on target with her assessment of the central office up in Burlington. Canceling a battle of the bands because the superintendent, Paula Schwartz started hearing from students, parents and supporters? Sound familiar?

source: Courant, Free Speech Suit Filed: Student’s Blog Entry At Issue, By DANIEL P. JONES And FULVIO CATIVO, July 17, 2007