A social media storm erupted after administrators at a New Jersey high school accused a student of bullying because of anti-Israel comments that she posted on Twitter. They say that the tweets may have violated the state's broad anti-bullying laws.

Bethany Koval, a 16-year-old Israeli Jew, said on Wednesday that she was called to the principal's office at Fair Lawn High School and reprimanded for making tweets criticizing Israel and mentioning that a pro-Israel classmate had unfollowed her on Twitter.


Comment: So where's the real problem? It doesn't seem to exist. Maybe the school administrators need a refresher course in the 1st Amendment.


Administrators warned her that she could face legal consequences for her actions, since New Jersey has some of the strictest anti-bullying legislation in the country. Under the New Jersey Anti-Bullying Bill of Rights Act, which only came into force in 2011, she could be suspended or expelled.

Koval is a prolific Twitter user. She had made over 21,000 tweets and has almost 7,000 followers, many of whom she gained in the last few days. The fiasco that she is the center of has since become a social media sensation.

The outspoken high schooler has been met with both support and opposition online.

When Koval was called down to the principal's office, she began documenting the situation on Twitter.

"I'm about to be exposed for being anti-Israel. Pray for me," she tweeted.

A few minutes later, she tweeted that the administrator threatened to "file a bullying case" against her.

"It's against state law to express unpopular political views on the Internet, now," she tweeted again.

In addition to rebuking her and warning her about legal consequences, the administator searched Koval's phone to make sure that he had not recorded their conversation. The student could be sued if she had, he told her.

The administrator was correct in their assumption; Koval posted videos of the meeting on Twitter. In one recording, Koval can heard telling the administrator that her tweets may have been controversial, but she didn't think they were "problematic."

"Well that's your interpretation," the administrator said. "There's a state law that might interpret it differently."


Comment: Ya maybe, except for that little nuisance known as the 1st Amendment to the US Constitution that guarantees the right of free speech for everyone in the USA.


In a second clip, the administrator can be heard warning her about legal consequences again.

"You can sit there with your smug attitude right now, but if it's got to go into a bullying case because you think it shouldn't be and the state says it is, you're going to lose," he said.

Fair Lawn High School Principal James Marcella told the New York Times that the issue has been referred to the school district's superintendent, Bruce Watson, and that a statement would be released on Thursday afternoon.

Stanley Cohen, a lawyer consulted by Koval's family, said he that doubted that the complaints over her tweets would end up being a legal matter. He said he hoped school officials would looking beyond "the emotion of the moment and say 'Move on, this is no big deal,'" adding that he believes that young people should be encouraged to express their opinions in an academic environment.

http://www.rt.com/usa/328218-new-jersey-bullying-tweets/

Overall I have to agree with you. In regards to ANYTHING she posted on twitter, so long as she did not use school property to do so, she can not be touched (and that has been proven in court numerous times the last several years.

As far as the first amendment goes however, what a lot of people fail to remember or realize (mainly due to poor educational standards across the nation) is that until you are an adult (or emancipated by a court of law) you do not have the same rights as an adult citizen. You do NOT have the right to free speech for example. You DO have the legal right to be heard which means if you have a problem or if you need to address something you have to be listened to and considered. You do not however, have the full freedom to say what you want when you want however you want.

Now, with that said, it doesn't really mean much at this point anyway because nobody is going to refuse to listen to a teenager or a child just because they are not an adult as well all know. BUT it does cover the fact that she does NOT have the right, and more and more schools are enforcing this, to say what she wants in school without fear of reprimand.

In regards to the school taking her phone and searching it? That is a direct violation of the fourth amendment (which minors DO HAVE FULL RIGHTS TO); and again this has been upheld in court numerous times over the past several years. This does not mean the student was right in recording the conversation without stating she was going to first (she does not need permission to do so, she just needs to state she will be recording so the other person(s) can refuse to talk while on tape). The proper and legal path has to be followed in order to obtain it, and under most circumstances it will be disregarded unless the recording was used to bring harm to the other person or is used as evidence and it will then be tossed out.



What it boils down to is if it did not happen on school property or at a school function, and it did not involve school equipment, the school pretty much has no authority. IF she is bullying someone via the internet and not from a school resource, then the only thing that can be done is to involve the police and have the police investigate the matter.

The administrator, might wanna hire a better attorney.
Whoever gave "it" legal advice, has no real clue.

However, it does appear,
to be a cut and dried, clear case of the administrator bullying student Koval.

it sounds like to me one Jew(the principle) not liking a younger Jew saying bad things about Israel... Personal feelings shouldn't be involved with non school activities, and he should be on the childs side to keep this kinda crap from happening...

i blame obama...

It's a good thing she didn't tweet something anti-muslim. Lynch would have indited her.

more likely Lunch would have been true to her name!

could you please show me the Age-qualification in the First Amendment?

Her parents are dumbazzes....


PC code phrase for a spoiled brat....

liberal lez Jew = spoiled brat...

That too lol

Poor girl, she probably has no friends. Just tweets.

The resemblance is uncanny!

future her...

Ugh, Frankenfeinstein! another reason all political candidate's should have mental background checks.

IMO not really.
It seems (based on more than the crap article cited) the teen potentially faces anti bullying laws for anti Israel tweets that another student took offense to, and then the teen tweeter (twatter?) tweeted about the student that took offense.

It's not the anti Israel tweets, it's a student being offended, and then talking about the offended student, kind of making fun of them.

So, IMO, it could be interpreted as something little different than a troll.
Say something controversial, offend someone, then make fun of the person offended.
Saying something for the sake of incitement.
Like yelling fire in a theater, and then calling anyone that stands up to evacuate an idiot.

That's what it seems the school administrators have a problem with.

Which makes this hilarious:

Teens getting reprimanded for crap a huge population of people do everyday, and which forums are used for constantly, most especially politics, current news, & events forums.

Thats a female tweeter....

i was thinking the same thing, tweeting something about Israel isn't bullying..i'll see if i can find a less biased article around...

Wait, are you guys ganging up on a 16yr old school girl for practising her 1st amendment???

Pretty gross of you all I tell ya