Is my school allowed to look up students' tweets!?

[Marie]

My school recently allowed us to have our cellphones on us during class. With that, many of the students have been updating their twitter and facebook statuses, and texting other students. Just a few days ago, the assistant principal started calling kids down to the office for tweeting during school. There's a rumor going around that they've printed everyone's texts and tweets/statuses that were posted during school. A friend of mine was suspended for three days for tweeting during school. My question is, Can my school suspend a student for this? They did state when they told us we could have our phones that there is to be no social networking, but personally I thought suspension was a little too far! Can my school pull up text messages without a purpose? Just to see who was texting during school, are they allowed to do that!? I feel extremely violated and I really just wanna know if our rights are being protected. So my questions are:
1) Does my school have the right to print text message records if they don't have a legitimate reason?
2) Is a three-day suspension a reasonable punishment for this?

[You got it dude!]

Schools are allowed to do it if they have a reasonable suspicion. Three days was a little too far.

[scott b]

Of course they can. Tweets are PUBLIC information spread on the Internet. Next time, if you don't want to get suspended or feel "violated", then don't tweet things you wouldn't want someone to read.

[Anonymous_Penguin]

No it's actually violating your rights of privacy also that's definitely stalking in a different term...the only way they can used tweets against you is only if your being a threat to someone else or at the school.

[James Jordan]

Twitter and Facebook is not private, they are both public companies and everything you put on there can be seen by anyone without any reason.

[Jacob]

Well, considering that kids today are ticking time bombs, it's not out of the ordinary for school districts be infringing on the lives of their students. Also, keep in mind, if you're putting yourself out there via Twitter and Facebook, a PUBLIC forum, they have every right to do so as they are in no violation of any applicable laws. It becomes an intrusion and a bigger issue if they're hacking into student accounts, but if they're attaining information without breaking any laws, they're completely in their right.

Solution? Don't use Twitter and Facebook.

[Donald]

Does your school have the right to print text message records?

Yes, if it's open to the public. If you post something to Twitter or Facebook, that's out there in the public for all to see. There's no invasion of privacy if a school administrator logs onto Twitter or Facebook, identifies some students, and prints out whatever they've posted. Anyone--your mom or dad, the police, or someone here on Yahoo!--could do the same.

Is a 3-day suspension a reasonable punishment?

Could be. It strikes me as a bit harsh for a first offense. I'd probably ramp it up: A warning, a 1 day suspension, then a 3 day suspension. But others could disagree. Besides, as you note, they did tell you that there was to be no social networking. So you and your friends knew that those activities were violating school policy.

Hope that helps.

[KC der Alpha Wolf]

Read Twitters TOS.

[ornery and mean]

Sorry, yes they can search for your social networking posts. 3 days is not extreme punishment either.

Hey! The students were given a privilege (having cell phones on you during school hours), that privilege came with a responsibility (no social networking during school hours). Some students took the privilege and respected the rules, others (obviously) did not.

For those that did respect the rules ... no penalty! Those that violated the rules ... got to pay the penalty!

When you get out in the working world ... every keystroke you make on the company network can be watched. Updating your facebook or tweeting during work hours is likely to have more severe penalties.

[NorwegianGodofRock]

Your school doesn't have the right to spy on the private lives of its students. Some principals and teachers go too far and think they have the right or the responsibility to control every aspect of their student's lives. It's beyond their jurisdiction and it's how inappropriate relationships with their students develop. If I were you I would call the ACLU, and have them take care of it. They will set that school straight. Just look up your state: https://www.aclu.org/affiliates