March 11th, 2012
01:40 PM ET

Minnesota girl alleges school privacy invasion

(CNN) - A Minnesota middle school student, with the backing of the American Civil Liberties Union, is suing her school district over a search of her Facebook and e-mail accounts by school employees.

The 12-year-old sixth grade student, identified in court documents only as R.S., was on two occasions punished for statements she made on her Facebook account, and was also pressured to divulge her password to school officials, the complaint states.

"R.S. was intimidated, frightened, humiliated and sobbing while she was detained in the small school room" as she watched a counselor, a deputy, and another school employee pore over her private communications.

The lawsuit claims that her First Amendment rights were violated by employees at Minnewaska Area Middle School, in west-central Minnesota, as well as her Fourth Amendment rights regarding unreasonable search and seizure.

The Minnewaska School District denies any wrongdoing.

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Filed under: Legal issues • Middle school • Policy • Technology
soundoff (16 Responses)
  1. Robert

    When are schools going to realize that they can't do as they please. Even minors have rights.

    March 14, 2012 at 6:56 am |
  2. Myopinion

    Possibly also drug involvement too. However, that is still a violation of rights. That girl has the right to state anything about the school even if it is highly undesireable under her 1st ammendment rights. So much for "Minnesota Nice".

    March 13, 2012 at 10:59 am |
  3. ggmama

    Well, it does not say why they were looking. If a deputy is involved, it sounds like they were concerned about threats. Schools don't just jump and get a sheriff involved for nothing. There is more to this story.

    March 12, 2012 at 11:37 pm |
    • KK

      It doesn't say in this link, but check out the more complete story on MSN. What they did was unreasonable and very scary.

      March 13, 2012 at 4:09 pm |