Pembroke Pines Charter High School v. Evans [1]

Katherine Evans, a former student at Pembroke Pines Charter High School, filed a federal lawsuit [2] against the school's principal, alleging that he violated her First Amendment rights by suspending her for creating a Facebook [3] group in which she criticized one of her teachers.  According to her complaint [2], Evans posted a photograph of her Advanced Placement English teacher on November 9, 2007, after school hours and from her home computer, in order to create a group for students to express their opinion about the teacher.  Evans herself wrote that the teacher is "the worst teacher I've ever met!"  She also asked classmates to "express your feelings of hatred" by posting comments on the page.

In copies of the comments attached as an exhibit to the complaint [2], it appears that three of her classmates posted comments, all of which praised the teacher and criticized Evans for creating the group.  "Mrs. Phelps is one of the most amazing teachers I've ever had and there's plenty of people who agree with me," one student wrote. "Whatever your reasons for hating her are, they're probably very immature."  Two days after posting the information, Evans took it down.

When Principal Peter Bayer learned of the Facebook group, he suspended Evans for three days, stating that she had engaged in "cyber-bullying harassment towards a staff member" and "disruptive behavior," according to Evans' complaint [2].  As a result, Evans claims that the school pulled her from her advanced placement classes and forced her into "lesser-weighted honors classes [and] unjustifiably besmirched Plantiff's academic record."

Evans, who is represented by the ACLU of Florida [4], is seeking "nominal damages," expungement of the suspension from her permanent school record, and attorneys' fees.