K-12 education is such a mess. My kids go to quite good public school, and even there, it is a joke the control they think have. Anybody know if it is a violation of the 1st Ammendment to prohibit kids from dying their hair (serious question)? As a kid who had blue hair, that prohibition drives me nuts!
1. http://www.firstamendmentschools.org/freedoms/faq.aspx?id=12...
Now, I'm not saying what is right or wrong here. I'm simply asking what people think should be done. How do people want it to be handled.
Also, shouldn't Facebook be deleting her account? She's only 12, and you need to legally be 13.
If she said something about somebody else in a public way (yes, your "friends" probably count as public), the person being spoken about has multiple options:
1. Suck it up. People say mean things; get over it. (Side note: my guess is this whole case boils down to "contempt of cop", that horrible crime of not showing a person who has authority over you enough respect). Students don't check free speech at the gates and especially don't at home.
2. Contact FaceBook about a violation of its terms. FB could delete said post. I think FB's 13 year old policy is stupid (yes, the underlying law is also stupid, but FB takes the stupidity to new heights), but it is their policy. The principal could have just gotten the account nuked.
3. For a public posting, involve the parents. It is, you know, their job to raise their kid. If a parent decides they value freedom of speech over respect of authority, well, see #1 above or #4 below.
4. If the comment is truly libelous (and, remember, to prove libel you have to show harm was done[1]), you always have redress in the courts. But, again, the inequality in the relationship means the principal doesn't have to bother with that.
We want adults who question their leaders, yet our schools (including, sadly, many colleges. Just look at what happened at Berkeley) do everything they can to crush any leadership questioning. Is it any surprise most adults don't care about what their leaders do? They have been trained from a very early age that they have no control over "the man". Why would that change after college?
That classic example is very often misunderstood to describe a limitation on free speech. It doesn't. The government can not forbid you from shouting fire in a crowded theatre - but free speech does not come with indemnity: You are responsible for the consequences of your actions, including your speech. If other people in good faith reacts to your (in bad faith) shouting and get hurt, you are liable. If the theatre owner looses revenue from your shouting, you are liable. But you have every right to shout it.
The real problem is that everyone thinks that if we all just use common sense, and be nice to each other, it'll be ok, but that doesn't get us very far. If some kid slanders someone else, for example, how should it be dealt with? You don't have complete freedom to say anything you want about someone else.
...I guess the short of it is that if you don't want the school to handle the problem, be very specific about how the problems should be dealt with, otherwise when my personal freedom and yours clash, we're going to have a mess. Don't just wave the flag and cry "freedom!"
[Update]
I got down voted immediately. Thought I might. :-) Was it the wave the flag and cry freedom part, or do people think they have complete personal freedom? Yeah, I'm trying to stick a few simple-minded people in the eye. Anyway, people really need to think beyond the simple "I don't like it when this happens..." If you can't provide the answers to a problem, someone else will do it for you.