TKC BREAKING NEWS!!! ACLU FILES FREE SPEECH LAWSUIT AGAINST INDEPENDENCE SCHOOL DISTRICT AFTER CRAIGSLIST PRANK & GRADUATION CRACKDOWN!!!
UPDATE: OVERRULED!!!
Fox4: Judge rules in favor of Independence school not letting prankster senior walk in graduation
Here's the latest chapter in the fight for Internets 1st Amendment rights and/or a lesson for the graduating class of 2018.
Take a look:
ACLU Files Lawsuit Against Independence School District for Violating Senior’s Free Speech Rights
Suspension and ban of student from graduation is unnecessary and unconstitutional
Kansas City, Mo. – The ACLU of Missouri has filed a lawsuit against the Independence School District on behalf of a senior whose free speech rights were violated when he was suspended and denied the ability to participate in his graduation ceremony after he placed a satirical ad on Craigslist posting his high school for sale.
On Thursday, the ACLU of Missouri sent a letter to Independence School District Superintendent Dale Herl, urging the district to reconsider Kylan Scheele’s ban from his graduation ceremony because of the district’s unreasonable interpretation of a fake, satirical Craigslist ad Scheele placed as a prank.
The district’s three-day suspension and ban from graduation violated the senior’s First Amendment and due process rights.
Scheele engaged in entirely non-threatening activity he expressed his free speech by posting a fake ad to Craigslist in which he listed his school, Truman High, for sale. He described it as a 20+ room facility with newly built athletic fields, plenty of parking and a “bigger than normal dining room.” The posting was done with the email address of seniorsrule2k18@gmail.com.
The Independence School District said it considered Scheele’s ad an implied threat: Scheele wrote the school was for sale because of the “loss of students coming up.”
On Friday morning, the district chose not to change its unnecessary and unconstitutional punishment of Scheele, a graduating senior with a 3.9 GPA.
“In the hometown of U.S. President Harry Truman and in a place named after one of our nation’s key principles, ‘freedom,’ we hope that the district reconsiders its position and encourages the freedom of speech of our nation’s next generation of leaders,” said Tony Rothert, legal director, ACLU of Missouri. “There is still time for the district to do the right thing and allow Kylan to walk across that stage.”
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Developing . . .
This should be an interesting case. I wonder if Independence will give in, might be too late to let the student participate in graduation ceremony.
ReplyDeleteWasn't the whole thing a joke?
ReplyDelete^^^ Now it is.
ReplyDeleteThey say the school was "threatened" and nobody is sure what they mean by that.
Geez Independence SD just giggle and move on........
ReplyDelete.... but crickets from the aclu on domestic spying on an opposition campaign, conservative censorship in social media etc.etc...
ReplyDeleteSchools don't have feelings. They are institutions. Some administrator who is defensive and without a sense of humor overreacted.
ReplyDeleteGood for the ACLU for backing this 3.9 GPA student. I bet the administrator did not have that high of a GPA!!
The school board needs to run, not walk, to reverse this and apologize, and stop wasting tax dollars on this.
Ironically, the schools in Indy will never be "for sale", because the real demand is families stuck in the KC School District angling to change boundaries and escape to Indy school district.
The school needs to grow some humor balls.
ReplyDeletethe school would have been better off picking a different battle, meaning pretending to condemn the mischief but not doing much about it.
ReplyDeletenow they've blown it sky high.
Lamar, Missouri was Harry Truman hometown. Idiots!
ReplyDeletebirthplace
DeleteGotta side with the student here. Suspension even seems a little severe but not letting the kid walk in graduation is ridiculous. His ad was threatening no harm and the dining room comment kind of clever. Lighten up Indep; you have far bigger fish to fry.
ReplyDeleteMr. Gray, the school districts discipline czar, you are a fool.
ReplyDelete