Katherine Evans was just a high school student in Miami, Florida. All she was trying to do was express an opinion. She did not like her teacher and wanted to let people know. To do this she started a group on the social networking site, Facebook.com. The group was titled, “Ms. Sarah Phelps is the worst teacher I’ve ever met.” When Katherine posted this she did not think it would escalate to something big, and it shouldn’t have.
When her principal told Evans that she would be suspended for making the Facebook page she was appalled. After all, doesn’t this violate her freedom of speech? Katherine Evans, just like every American is entitled to freedom of speech unless it is threatening or dangerous in some way. All Evans was doing was expressing her opinion. She did not mean any harm at the teacher and it was not a threat to her in any way.
When she was suspended from the school in 2007, Evans was also taken out of advanced placement classes and put into regular level classes. She hired a lawyer who is trying to remove the suspension and have the files relating to the suspension dismissed from her file. Also, trying to put her back into advanced classes.
The attorney states that all she was doing was giving her personal opinion and gossiping. If you look in the constitution there is nothing against that. The first amendment says that you are entitled to freedom of speech. Katherine Evans spoke with freedom and now she has to pay a punishment. Even though there are now new forms of technology and communication, that does not mean we should change the constitution or someone’s rights.
On Facebook, this happens all of the time. When a friend comments on another friends page saying how they hate their teacher or how their teacher is awful. Students should not get suspended for this behavior. When I am on Facebook I always see people talking like this. There is nothing wrong with it unless it gets out of hand. In some cases threats on Facebook happen and then the police or other authorities need to get involved. But for Katherine Evans it was not like this. Students have the right to express their feelings and there is no way that they should get suspended for it.
I agree with Evans and her attorney. She should not have been suspended and dropped from advanced classes. They needed to put her back in advanced classes as soon as possible and drop the suspension.
Other cases like these if they are similar, there should not be a suspension involved. Like this case…a teen student in Oak Park, Illinois posted a comment about a teacher. He then got suspended and it was dropped after a lawsuit. Contact the student first and make them take down the page. Then, work it out with the teacher and the student. The Evans case did not need to be taken this far.
The article did not share the outcome of the case but Katherine Evans is 19 now and she is in college now.
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