Brickbat: Left Out

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court has upheld a lower court ruling that the Manheim Township School District violated a student’s rights by permanently expelling him for joking Snapchat messages he sent after school hours. The student, identified in court proceedings as J.S., sent a friend two messages making fun of a third student with a penchant for wearing a T-shirt for death metal band Cannibal Corpse. One was a photo of that student singing into a microphone with the caption, “I’m shooting up the school this week. I can’t take it anymore I’m DONE!” The second was a video showing the same student playing a guitar and was captioned “Many will perish in this storm.” The second student briefly posted them to Snapchat before J.S. asked him to take them down. But some students had already seen them and reported them. Police investigated and found there was no threat. But school officials decided the messages were threatening and expelled J.S. In its ruling, the court said the messages were clearly not intended to threaten anyone.

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