03-05-2003Two Warsaw Community High School students are suspended pending expulsion for the rest of the term and two others will attend a four-hour detention on Fridays for harassing, obscene postings on a Web site message board.
In addition, according to WCHS Principal Dr. Jennifer Brumfield, “there could be criminal charges filed” because under Indiana law, harassment is a Class B misdemeanor. A Class B misdemeanor is punishable by up to 180 days in jail and a fine of up to $1,000.
The two suspended students are senior honor students, and all the students were working on the computer in class when the incidents occurred. The students posted obscene messages on HickoryHusker.com, a basketball message board.
Their actions were a violation of the school corporation’s Internet agreement and the student due process code. The code prohibits sexual or racial harassment and includes any activity that breaks Indiana State code and/or interferes with the school’s purpose.
“The nature of what was said was very serious,” Brumfield said, and of a threatening nature.
Brumfield said at least one of the students involved said he meant nothing racist in the posting. However, hindsight is 20/20 and Brumfield said that when it comes to racist, slanderous remarks, including those that were made against a neighboring school, it breaks the law and will not be tolerated.
The school is looking into how the suspensions will affect the senior students’ graduation. Hopefully, Brumfield said, they already have met all the necessary graduation requirements. If not, she said ,they will work with them and their guidance counselors.
“We had to get the point across what they did was extremely serious,” she said, but administrators did not want to affect the students’ future.
Brumfield said the school needs to remind students that what they might find funny at the time isn’t necessarily so to anyone else, especially when it is obscene or harassing. She said the students are intelligent but that didn’t stop them from breaking the law, and it appears they were just not thinking. They also reportedly were unaware their messages could be traced back to them.
Two days ago, Brumfield said she was informed about the about the obscene message by people all across the state .
“I was just shocked,” she said. The matter was forwarded to Warsaw Schools’ technology director Dennis VanDuyne. He was able to determine what computer was used, and then the students “admitted it. They were apologetic,” she said.
Under the school corporation’s process, the students’ parents have the right to request a hearing on why the students should remain in school. A hearing officer will make a determination on the matter, but it can be appealed to the school board.