school got involved with a twitter account?

[Rachel Mcgonez]

So some person at my school (whom I don't know) created a Twitter account which essentially makes fun of a teacher. Many people followed this account, including me. However, I was unknowingly following it because at the time I also had requests for a few other followers so I didn't pay close attention to who I was following. I guess my story doesn't really matter here. Anyways, today, all the people who were following the account and I were called down and we were informed that the administration knew about the page and had contacted the police. They informed us that we must unfollow the page and that they emailed our parents. They also looked at each of our own pages, for not specific reason. They said that whoever created the page was committing identity theft, which is understandable. However, I do not see why me and the other followers got in trouble and I really don't see why they had to inform our parents. I can see giving us a warning and maybe taking us to a computer and having them (the administration) watch me unfollow the account. But emailing my parents?
Is that legal, or right? Can they actually do that? For some reason I feel like they can't. Also, some of the people's parents they emailed are 18 so isn't that also technically wrong?
I would really prefer a perspective of someone who is actively involved in the law, and I also am not looking for a lecture on social media and what not.

[jpturboprop]

I would agree with most of what you say. It does seem to be an invasion of privacy. On the other hand, this is a problem that goes far beyond individual rights. It is about expectations, as well. You and I expect to be able to access any site on the internet as long as the site is posted. It is not the school's role to determine what web content is on line at any point in time, other than specific content that they post, and content they feel is libelous. In the case of libelous material, the school has the right to ask a court to remove the material, but cannot do it themselves.
As to notifying your parents, that is anyone's guess as to their legal status to do that. Considering that the schools seldom contact parents when a kid is sick at school (just go down to the nurses office...) it seems a bit over the top that they should be concerned just because you are following someone on Twitter...