From FreedomProject Media:
A government school district in Indiana is under fire for trying to censor parents’ online comments about the education system, sparking outrage across the political spectrum as well as First Amendment concerns. Violators can be barred from school grounds.
In the highly controversial “Parent Code of Conduct” put out by the North West Hendricks School Corporation, parents are explicitly told that they may not speak out against the district, its schools, or its employees on social media.
“Parents of North West Hendricks Schools Should NOT: … Use Facebook or any other Social Network to make rude/offensive comments towards individual staff members or the school in general,” the document explains.
Parents are also supposedly barred from complaining about the district’s policies. According to the “Code of Conduct,” they must “NOT” “use Facebook or any other Social Network to campaign against or fuel outrage against individual staff members, the school, or policies implemented by the school or district.”
The policy has been in place since 2016, and was updated in May of 2019. But it only recently drew attention as parents have been complaining online and at school board meetings about various policies. In particular, the district came under fire after refusing to fire a teacher accused of sexual misconduct with a student, according to a report by local news agency WRTV.
Concerned parents are not having it. “They’re trying to silence us from speaking out against them,” said Tiffani Mathews, an outraged mother of a student in the district. “Social media is the way to get the word out there that, ‘Hey, this isn’t being handled properly.’”
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