A week after a teacher was suspended for posting a vague complaint about an unidentified student on her Facebook page, a student from another school is given a pass for posting a specific complaint about a teacher on hers.

Katie Evans is no longer enrolled at Pembrook Pines Charter High School in Florida, but in 2007 she was a senior there and unhappy with one of her teachers.  She set up a Facebook page to vent about “the worst teacher I’ve ever met.”  If she expected sympathy from her fellow students, she didn’t get it.  Instead, she was attacked by students who actually liked the teacher.  Evans responded by taking the page down a few days later.

But Evans’ classmates weren’t the only ones who had a problem with her Facebook complaining.  After school principal Peter Bayer got wind of it, he did more than disagree — he took advantage of his position of power and punished the honors student.  Despite the fact that the page had long been removed, Bayer pulled Evans from her Advanced Placement classes and suspended her for three days. Continue reading »

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For centuries, those of the Catholic faith have been using rosary beads to keep track of their prayers.  A circular string of beads with a pendant crucifix, a rosary serves as a sort abacus for counting one’s daily devotions.

But according to officials  at Fieldstone Secondary School in Haverstraw, New York, rosary beads also have another purpose:  To signify a gang affiliation. And that, they say, is why 14-year-old Jason Laguna was threatened with suspension we he wore his to school. Continue reading »

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In March 2009, Samantha Burton, 29, went to Tallahassee Memorial Hospital while experiencing signs of pre-term labor while 25 weeks pregnant.

Her doctors prescribed 15 weeks of bed rest, but Burton explained that was impossible:  She had two small children and a job.  She then asked for a second opinion.  She got one, but it wasn’t from a physician.

Burton’s doctor came back into her room with an attorney in tow and handed her a phone.  She spoke to Leon Circuit  Judge C. Cooper, who — without reviewing her medical records or even allowing her to speak to a legal advocate — ordered her to stay where she was and submit to “any and all medical treatments” her doctor’s deemed necessary.  Burton asked to change hospitals, but was told it wasn’t in the best interest of her child.

Those treatments included an emergency c-section three days later, where Burton’s baby was delivered stillborn.

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If you thought the worst part of Facebook was hiding your status updates from your boss, beware. You could land on the wrong side of a family court judge.

The ACLU of Rhode Island announced this week it’s stepping in to help the plight of a woman ordered by a family court judge not to update her Facebook with the status of her brother’s family court proceedings. Continue reading »

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