A school system in Northwest Indiana and the American Civil Liberties Union are bracing for a potential court battle after three girls were expelled for having a Facebook conversation about killing some of their fellow eighth graders. The banter was riddled with winking emoticons and LOLs, but after administrators took a look at the exchange, they certainly weren’t laughing.
Two of the fourteen-year-old girls who wound up expelled have since taken their case public and argued the entire conversation was nothing more than a bad joke gone seriously wrong. They swear they would never harm anyone let alone kill them, which is why they’ve gotten the ACLU involved to try and fight the expulsions.
According to NBC, parents in the Griffith, Indiana school district are fiercely divided over whether the situation was handled correctly. Many think the girls got exactly what they deserved, while others are convinced the authorities have overreacted to a foolish and less than serious Facebook discussion.
More than anything, the case represents where we are as a society and how much things have changed. Prior to the massacre at Columbine in 1999, school officials would likely have just called the girls in to make sure it was all a misunderstanding, but that’s no longer the world we live in. School shootings might not be an everyday occurrence, but they happen often enough that any and all threats or perceived threats must now be taken seriously.
