Monday, November 10, 2003
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

INTERNET DIARIES: School discipline questioned

Student punished for comments made in online journal

Wesley Juhl was disciplined by the Clark County School District for comments he made in his online journal from a home computer. He admits the journal has profanities and edgy rants but says it's none of the district's business. Photo by John Locher.

"Kill Alaina!"

The throwaway comment about an irritating friend is one that former Valley High School senior Wesley Juhl wishes he had never recorded in his blog, a personal Web site he used to chronicle daily life.

At the end of September, a month after he first posted it on his personal computer while in the privacy of his home, Juhl found himself sitting in the dean's office facing disciplinary action.

That journal statement, and another that included a vulgar comment about a teacher, earned Juhl an in-school suspension and a required parent conference. The disciplinary action also brought to light the fact that Juhl did not have a current zone variance to attend Valley. As a result, Juhl was sent to Chaparral High School, which is the school zone he resides in.

Juhl, 18, is still wondering what authority allowed the Clark County School District to punish him. His journal was not a school assignment and was not posted using a school computer or a school message board.

"The dean told me that what I'd written wasn't school appropriate," said Juhl, who was Valley's homecoming king this year and also was president of its drama club. "He said it wasn't appropriate for a journal. I just feel like I've been violated, like they've punished me for expressing my personal opinion."

Valley Assistant Principal Annette Conners-Harris said that sending Juhl to Chaparral was not a consequence of what he wrote in his journal, at least not directly. The disciplinary issue uncovered the fact that Juhl did not have a current zone variance to attend Valley.

For three years, Juhl had been part of the school's International Baccalaureate program, but he chose not to continue in it his senior year. That was something the school should have caught earlier and it was not Juhl's fault, she said.

As for why Juhl received in-school suspension and a required parent conference, Conners-Harris said that since she wasn't involved, she couldn't speak to it.

"But you can't be threatening other kids," Conners-Harris said.

JoNell Thomas, an attorney who sits on the board of directors for the American Civil Liberties Union of Nevada, was curious to know what policy or law was used by school officials in deciding to punish Juhl.

"This just floors me," said Thomas, who also serves on the board for the national ACLU. "The school district doesn't have any right to censor off-campus speech."

The district's responsibility for students can extend off campus. In the past, in dealing with students who fight, district officials have said that they are responsible for students after school, on their way home, which means they can issue detention or suspensions to those involved in altercations. The district's responsibility ends when the student reaches his home.

Juhl wasn't the only Valley student who landed in hot water because of comments recorded in a personal online journal. His friend, Valley senior Angie Scaduto, was called to the dean's office at the same time Juhl was.

She was questioned about one of her journal entries, which began: "I almost killed everyone today."

The entry went on to explain all the things that had gone wrong that day, she said, and wasn't a threat against anyone. She also was asked about things she'd written about her mother and the fact that she'd said she'd taken cold medicine during lunch one day at school.

"I kept asking, `What does this have to do with school?' " Scaduto said. "They never answered my question. I was completely shocked about it. They were my personal private thoughts and I was getting picked on for them."

No further action was taken against Scaduto. Juhl unsuccessfully tried to appeal the decision that put him out of Valley. His mother, Deanna Korim, said she unsuccessfully appealed to Principal Ron Montoya to reverse the decision.

"He kept talking about Columbine, Columbine," Korim said, a reference to the 1999 Colorado high school shootings where two students killed 12 classmates and a teacher. "I still can't believe he was saying that to me. They have no right to punish him for something he does on his own time."

Korim said she tried to convince Montoya that her son's written statement was a throwaway line, like when people say they could kill someone or strangle someone.

"He told me that wasn't appropriate anymore, not in a social setting," Korim said.

Montoya was out of town last week and was not available to comment.

Allen Lichtenstein, general counsel to the ACLU of Nevada, said that if a student makes a threat against another student that is perceived as real, the district can take action.

"But this seems like overreaching," Lichtenstein said. "You hear things like this all the time in schools."

Lichtenstein also said that if it was the school's error that left Juhl without a current zone variance, it would have been just as easy for administrators to allow to him stay at Valley.

"If they wanted to give him a zone variance because of their mistake, they clearly could," Lichtenstein said.

And if the threat had been perceived as real, Lichtenstein wondered why the incident was not reported to police. Juhl said he was never contacted or interviewed by school police.

"If they really thought I was a threat, I'd have been in handcuffs in the back of a police car," Juhl said.

Juhl and Scaduto both wonder how school officials got their journals in the first place: The firewalls used on Valley's computers block access to their Web sites.

Both think a fellow student turned in the entries. They also think they were disciplined before any administrator had read their complete journal entries, which would have given the proper context to the sentences that got them into trouble.

Scaduto was so frustrated over the incident that she's now made her journal access "friends only." If you aren't on her approved list, you can't read it, she said.

Both Juhl and Scaduto also worried about what this means for other students who keep online journals. It's a growing trend among teenagers, they said.

And being anonymous isn't a protection. Juhl didn't use his real name on his Web site but admitted to the screen name when questioned at school.

"That was a mistake," Juhl said, adding he now wishes he'd just denied the whole thing.

At the time, Juhl said he didn't see any reason to lie about it. His online record of life is liberally peppered with profanities, comic observations and emotional content about family and friends.

But since they weren't related to school, he thought there wouldn't be a problem.

What's unfolded this year is something Juhl said he never saw coming. He's never been suspended and is a fairly good student. He was part of the academically rigorous International Baccalaureate program for three years, although he chose not to continue it this year. He was also taking advanced placement classes in government and English. Juhl said he was able to pick up those classes at Chaparral, but had to drop his probability and statistics class because it wasn't offered at his new school.

Korim said she is going to keep appealing Juhl's case with district administrators, but isn't optimistic about getting Juhl reinstated.

Juhl, though, has hopes.

"I'd like to go back to Valley," Juhl said. "I'd like to graduate with my friends."