Cybertraps for Educators Digest

Frederick Lane -

by Frederick Lane ~ 3 January 2023

đŸĨ‚ Happy New Year and Welcome to 2023!

This C4E Digest is 738 words, or approximately a 3-minute read.

⚖ī¸ The Big One: Punishing Students for Racist Instas Upheld

A tree-lined street in Albany, CA (John Rusk, 2015, Flickr)

Albany Unified School District (AUSD) in Albany, CA disciplined several students who participated in a private Instagram account that featured "insulting posts, including pictures of Black [students] accompanied by slavery images and nooses."

  • Several of the 13 account followers, including the founder, sued the school district, arguing that their activity was protected by the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Mahoney Area School District v. B.L. (2021).
  • In Mahoney, SCOTUS held that the punishment of a cheerleader for vulgar off-campus rants on Snapchat was a violation of her First Amendment rights.