- NEWARK, N.J. (AP) -- When
Ryan Dwyer created a Web site offering critical views of his middle school,
he included this phrase: "This page protected by the U.S. Constitution."
-
- Now Ryan is suing to see if that was really true.
-
- Despite taking down the site at the request of the Oceanport
district, he was suspended for a week, barred from the Maple Place Middle
School baseball team for a month and banned from the class trip to Philadelphia.
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- Ryan and his parents, in a federal lawsuit filed Dec.
18 in U.S. District Court in Trenton, claim the sanctions imposed by the
district and its officials violated the Monmouth County boy's free-speech
and due-process rights.
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- Oceanport School Superintendent James DiGiovanna referred
a request for comment to the district's attorney, Anthony P. Sciarrillo,
who said Ryan violated the school's disciplinary code. "I don't believe
his rights were violated," he said.
-
- Calls to Maple Place Principal John K. Amato and school
board members, who were also sued, were not returned.
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- Ryan said the school handbook has no mention of Web sites,
and he was shocked that he was punished.
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- "I created the Web site because I felt I had no
voice at Maple Place," Ryan said at a Newark news conference with
his parents and their lawyers from the American Civil Liberties Union.
"You need your First Amendment rights to get change."
-
- Ryan has turned 15 since the incident, and now is a freshman
taking honors courses at Shore Regional High School in West Long Branch.
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- Edward Barocas, legal director for the state ACLU chapter,
said the law protects Webmasters from being held liable for statements
made on sites over which they have no editorial control.
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- Chapter Executive Director Deborah Jacobs said there
is an "epidemic" of similar cases involving student Web sites
around the nation, citing ACLU challenges in Cleveland; Little Rock, Ark.;
Kent, Wash.; San Francisco; Seattle; and St. Louis.
-
- The lawsuit seeks unspecified monetary compensation and
a ruling that the defendants violated Ryan's constitutional rights.
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- It claims that Ryan created the site, www.mapleplace.20m.com,
at home, and never used school facilities to edit or access it.
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- The district has never identified what rule or law Ryan
violated, according to the lawsuit.
-
- Launched on April 1, when Ryan was in eighth grade, the
site greeted users with the legend, "Welcome to the Anti-Maple Place
- Your Friendly Environment," and said: "This page is dedicated
to showing students why their school isn't what it's cracked up to be.
You may be shocked at what you find on this site," the lawsuit said.
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- Users who wished to leave comments were instructed not
to use profanity and "no threats to any teacher or person EVER."
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- Some visitor comments criticized the school and teachers,
but others, the lawsuit conceded, "were arguably crude, sophomoric
and offensive." Ryan never made threats or used profanity, it said.
-
- DiGiovanna contacted Ryan's mother, Rosanne Dwyer, on
April 7 that Ryan was suspected of creating a site that "might have
criminal content." Later that day, Ryan and his father, Kevin Dwyer,
met with the superintendent and the principal.
-
- DiGiovanna, the superintendent, said the principal was
angry because a picture on the site made Amato "look black,"
the lawsuit said. The superintendent also said there were anti-Semitic
remarks posted, which Ryan denied making, the lawsuit said.
-
- Amato asked for the site to be taken down, and Ryan and
his father agreed and did so after leaving the meeting. Later that day,
Rosanne Dwyer was told by DiGiovanna that the district decided to suspend
Ryan for a week, bar him from sports for a month and ban him from the trip,
the lawsuit said.
-
- Efforts to have the punishment delayed pending an appeal
to the school board were rejected, and the board later affirmed the discipline.
-
- A legal expert not involved in the case, Perry Dean,
said, "This seems like a fairly clear case of a free-speech violation."
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- "For the school to reach out to someone's out-of-school
expressive conduct doesn't seem at all justifiable," said Dean, a
professor at Rutgers-Camden School of Law.
-
- "Students, to some extent, have fewer expressive
rights than adults in a school context," he said. However, "even
in the school context, there's been students asserting rights to publish
critical articles in school papers."
-
- Related
-
- <http://www.firstamendmentcenter.org/news.aspx?id=3033>Oregon
teen expelled over off-color Web site sues school district
- Legal experts say such cases illustrate the tension between
free speech, school safety. 01.25.03
-
- <http://www.firstamendmentcenter.org/news.aspx?id=6403>School
violated ex-volleyball player's free-speech rights, federal judge rules
- Federal judge's decision effectively ends legal fight
in Pennsylvania that began when Jack Flaherty posted message critical of
teacher on Web site. 02.28.03
-
- <http://www.firstamendmentcenter.org/news.aspx?id=12142>Georgia
students fight suspensions for online comments
- High school seniors file federal lawsuit after being
punished for criticisms of teacher posted on off-campus Web site. 10.29.03
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