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Douche Bags and
Poets
If
somebody were to ask you whether a high school student should be
disciplined for calling her school district superintendent a “douche
bag,” you’d probably say, “Of course. That just seems like common
sense!” But that kind of thinking is so 20th
century.
Things are more complicated in the new millennium. Remember how worried
we were that our computers would stop working when the calendar turned
2000? We should have been more concerned that they would keep working.
They kept functioning, the Internet grew like grass in monsoon season,
cell phones became all-purpose communications devices and along came
MySpace and You Tube. And, suddenly, the “douche bag” question became a
trick question. Can a high school student call her superintendent a
douche bag? Well, maybe yes, maybe no
Avery Doninger did just that and was barred from running for class
office. Then her mother sued the school district and asked a federal
district court to overturn the election results and order Avery to be
recognized as student body secretary. In fact, in a scene reminiscent
of the movie Election, Avery received by far the highest number
of votes – all write-ins. But, the judge ruled in favor of the school
district, suggesting the answer to the question in the lede is “yes.”
There is a lot of litigation between a motion and hearing, and a trial.
I think the district will ultimately lose the lawsuit, and that the
answer, in the context of Avery Doninger’s case, will be “yes.” The
reason is that Avery’s comments were entered into her computer at home
and appeared on a blog that was unrelated to the school or school
district.
What set Avery off? There was a dispute over when the school would hold
its annual “battle of the bands” concert. I’ll spare you the details.
It’s enough to know that Avery feared the concert would be canceled
altogether, and so she wrote this in her blog:
jamfest is cancelled due to douchebags in central office. . . .
basically, because we sent [the original Jamfest email] out, Paula Schwartz is getting a TON of
phone calls and emails and such. . . . however, she got pissed off and decided to
just cancel the whole thing all together, anddd [sic] so basically we aren't going to
have it at all, but in the slightest chance we do[,] it is going to be after the talent show
on may 18th.
Paula Schwartz is the district superintendent. Avery also suggested
that readers of her blog write or call Schwartz “to piss her off more.”
Several students posted comments on Avery’s blog. One called Schwartz a
“dirty whore.”
The “TON of phone calls and emails and such” came about when Avery and a
few other students accessed the email account of a student’s father,
using a computer in the school computer lab. They decided to contact
“taxpayers” (translation: adults) about the “jamfest” issue and ask them
to contact Schwartz. Apparently a number of taxpayers had nothing
better to do than harass the superintendent over the scheduling of a
rock concert at the high school and the besieged superintendent
expressed her displeasure to the principal, Karissa Niehoff, who
expressed both of their displeasure to Avery. Then Avery helpfully went
on line and called Schwartz a douche bag.
Avery was not disciplined for her inappropriate use of the school
computers to send the email, nor for the email itself. She received a
stern talking-to and had a note temporarily placed in her file.
However, when the “douche bag” blog entry made the rounds, Avery’s
student body political ambitions were toast, the school disregarded the
write-in votes and Avery’s mom filed a suit in federal court. The
primary claim is for denial of Avery’s First Amendment right to call
district administrators douche bags.
There’s something about the right to call a school official a douche bag
that makes poets sing. I have a copy of an email flyer entitled, “Poets
& Writers For Avery At Free Speech Festival With Five Live Bands.” The
first line of the text reads, “Novelist
Wally Lamb will be among 10 poets and writers reading from their works
in a celebration honoring free speech freedom fighter Avery Doninger
Sunday, Oct. 14, 2007 ... Also, other special guests might show up at
the last moment.”
The Connecticut literati will turn out in force to honor “free speech
freedom fighter Avery Doninger.” A former Connecticut Poet Laureate is
helping to “subsidize expenses” for the event. They’ve even signed on
Raj Patel, “owner of The Business Center in Litchfield,” so you know
they’ve got juice.
This is my favorite part: “Suggested donation is $25 or more for
adults; $10 or more for students. Checks can be made out to: Atty. Jon
L. Schoenhorn IOLTA Account...”
So
many douche bags, so little time.
© September 14, 2007 |
Mike has been writing a regular column on
Inside Track
Online since July 1, 2003. |
