Say Anything Blog

If they broke school policy then tough luck. Unfortunately, like most schools, it’s only the athletes who are punished but then it’s probably been that way for over a century so, Such is life!

Since Eden Prairie High School is apparently a public, tax-payer funded, government school, the school administration should have no authority beyond school grounds or school functions, and no authority to discipline students for something that took place beyond those limits without a judicial finding of guilt.

It probably won’t happen, sadly, but Mr. O’Leary and his friends should go through the formalappeals process set out by the school administration and hire good outside counsel and contact the ACLU as well.

This happens all the time, across the country, and when you think about it, it is indeed a violation of the students’ rights.

“Poverty of goods is easily cured; poverty of the mind is irreparable.”

If I were still in high school, I think I’d host a party, serve plenty of O’Doul’s, and post the pictures just to raise some heck.  :^) Maybe roll some Earl Gray tea into cigarette paper and pretend to smoke it, too.

Seriously, though, I do remember that in high school, participation in any “extracurricular activity” did seem to allow the school to pry into what you did outside of school.  Drinking or smoking pretty much suspended you, or eliminated you, from those activities.

Shame on you Bat 1 for wanting to encourage anyone to run to the ACLU. 
I can’t imagine why anyone would be against standing behind this policy.
Please don’t even suggest leaving the punishment up to the parents .. considering 85% of the parents are a joke when it comes to disciplining their children.

Anna,

As far as the ACLU is concerned, they aren’t going away so there is little point in not taking advantage of them for a case like this.

Children, who are forced by law to attend a government school, are subsequently interrogated by school personnel, agents of the state, with no advice that they have a constitutional right to remain silent or have legal counsel or their real parent/guardian present to advise them, and all this over an incident which took place off school grounds.  As I noted, this takes place all across the country, and the only way to put a stop to it is through the courts.

As for meting out punishment, since the incident took place off school grounds, school officials have no authority to discipline the students, nor can they turn over any of their “investigation” results to authorities, because as agents of the state they have obtained those results improperly.

Finally, as to the parents, while I agree that many parents are a joke when it comes to punishing their children, that is hardly sufficient reason to assign that responsibility to the state.  Doing so, you have stepped off onto a very slippery slope indeed.  For example, should the state decide who should and who should not be allowed to have children in the first place?  Or how many children are appropriate given the prospective parents’ economic, educational, and yes, religious background?

Your argument in favor of state punishment in lieu of competent parental oversight (as judged by who???) is a very short step away from the hypotheticals I’ve posed.  Hillary Clinton would probably embrace your argument with open arms.  Which is one more reason I disagree.

“Poverty of goods is easily cured; poverty of the mind is irreparable.”

Mr. Bat:

As for meting out punishment, since the incident took place off school grounds, school officials have no authority to discipline the students

The school administration has every right to discipline those students who are in athletics.  There isn’t much they can do to those who are not in athletics.

Students who participate in Varsity sports in Minnesota sign off on a pledge to stay free from mood altering chemicals while participating in sports. 

The school is well within their authority to discipline these student-athletes.

The school was notified by an outside party of the photos on Facebook.  This was presented to the school, they didn’t seek this information out.

I agree that they had to do an investigation instead of brushing it aside. 

If students are foolish enough to put this out there for anyone to see, they should also keep in mind that there could be consequences.

To me, the most disturbing thing about this is that pictures on a gossip site can be considered evidence.

Leftie political philosophy, from a DU commenter:

It doesn’t matter if it’s true or not. RUMOR IS TRUTH. The modern laws of media hype and political warfare have a useful tenet: Repeat ANYTHING or raise false concern over ANYTHING and it is likely to be planted in the conscious/subconscious of many voters.

...or even probable cause.  Ever hear of Photoshop?

Leftie political philosophy, from a DU commenter:

It doesn’t matter if it’s true or not. RUMOR IS TRUTH. The modern laws of media hype and political warfare have a useful tenet: Repeat ANYTHING or raise false concern over ANYTHING and it is likely to be planted in the conscious/subconscious of many voters.

Students - most of them minors - who break the law and/or violate school policies and then post photographic evidence of their behavior on the internet are dumber than hell and just asking for what they get.

When will they learn… the internet is 100% public!

"Here lies, in honored glory, an American soldier, known but to God.”

“As a conservative, I will not be overly enthusiastic about voting for John McCain on November 4 - but I will be sprinting to the polling place to do so!”
Matthew May, conservative commentator, The American Spectator

This is just another step toward a Brave New World society where the state monitors everyones activities.

You don’t have to be a moron to be a liberal Democrat but it sure helps.