IP: ACLU Defends Ohio 8th Grader Expelled for Humorous Web Site Created at Home

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

> Date: Sun, 12 Aug 2001 00:09:47 -0400
> To: David Farber <dave () farber net>
>
>
> http://www.aclu.org/news/2001/n072601f.html
>
>
> ACLU Defends Ohio 8th Grader Expelled for
> Humorous Web Site Created at Home
>
> FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
> Thursday, July 26, 2001
>
>
> CLEVELAND--The American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio today filed a 
> federal lawsuit challenging the suspension and expulsion of an 8th grade 
> student over a web site he and his friends created off-campus.
>
> Jonathon Coy, 15, together with several friends created an off-campus web 
> site dedicated to skateboarding and humor. In April 2001, officials at 
> North Canton Middle School suspended him for five days and placed him on 
> in school expulsion until November.
>
> "This is yet another sad example of school officials reacting hysterically 
> to innocent student expression," said Raymond Vasvari, Legal Director of 
> the American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio, which is representing the Coy 
> family in federal court. "What students say and do on their own time is 
> between them and their parents, and is not the business of over-zealous 
> administrators."
>
> Nothing on the site was obscene, Vasvari noted, and teachers, 
> administrators and the North Canton Schools generally were not even 
> mentioned. Despite this, school officials charged Coy with bullying. Local 
> police were also sent to the Coy household to review the tape with 
> Jonathon's parents, but could find nothing wrong with it.
>
> The web site, which Coy created on his home computer on his own time, 
> featured him and friends in humorous photos and focused on skateboarding, 
> videography and juvenile humor.
>
> The Supreme Court has held that schools may limit student speech in 
> connection with school activities and events, but has never allowed 
> administrators to censor student speech off campus, the ACLU said in legal 
> papers.
>
> "Schools have got to stop playing fast and loose with the constitutional 
> rights of their students," said Jillian Davis, ACLU Staff Counsel, who 
> also represents Coy. "Jonathan Coy is the latest victim of the 
> zero-tolerance mindset of our schools. He did nothing wrong, but has 
> suffered academically and emotionally as a result of his punishment. This 
> has to stop."
>
> The ACLU is asking the federal court to declare the school's action 
> unconstitutional, to end Jonathan's expulsion and erase it from his 
> record. The lawsuit also seeks money damages.
>
> A legal complaint in the case is available online at: 
> http://www.aclu.org/court/coy.pdf.
>
>
>
> Copyright 2001, The American Civil Liberties Union
>
>
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