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Speech in School

Are the constitutional rights in schools changing with a rapidly evolving society? We know that cases like Tinker vs. Des Moines laid a foundation for what we know to be the constitutional rights in schools. But in a society where life is evolving and transitioning towards a much more technology driven one, are these constitutional rights still up to date? As social media can be a platform for creativity, connectivity and productivity, it also hold a substantial threat in the scope of student rights. More and more students are being punished for comments made about their school online, off of school grounds and out of scheduled school hours.
For example, in an article by The Atlantic, they bring up a case of a Minnesota girl who was punished by her school for making a Facebook post claiming her hall monitor was mean to her. She never actually said anything detrimental about the hall monitor, simply that they had treated her poorly. The girl was punished for the comment and was forced to give up her Facebook password in the presence of a sheriff deputy.
Student speech has historically been something that has kept school administrations honest and transparent. When comments are made off of the internet, they are not public record and they are not as intimidating. This is why I personally believe school boards are much more strict on student speech on the internet. Is this restriction of student speech online a violation of our first amendment rights? This speech is a threat to school boards, so I feel they will do anything in their power to attempt to shut down this kind of speech. Do you think that online student speech is more threatening to schools than physical speech?

Wheeler, David R. “Do Students Still Have Free Speech in School?” The Atlantic, Atlantic Media Company, 7 Apr. 2014, www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2014/04/do-students-still-have-free-speech-in-school/360266/.

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