Action News Jax has learned Duval County Public Schools dropped a 5-day in-school suspension for a student who posted video of a fight in the bus ramp at Mandarin High School on social media.
The student who posted the video, Shaun Farrell, Jr., claimed he did not personally film the fight. He said he reposted it to Instagram on an account he runs that documents events at the school.
The student’s father, Shaun Farrell, Sr., said Duval County Public Schools dropped the suspension four hours after Action News Jax began looking into the situation.
He said he believed all along that protected free speech was at stake.
Farrell, Jr. is a freshman at MHS. He's in a journalism class and wants to be a reporter, so he started the Instagram page “M.H.S. Reality” to give people an inside look at the school.
“It was pretty much just everything that happens at school,” Farrell, Jr. said.
Farrell, Jr. posted things people sent him, like a video of a teacher rapping in the courtyard. He admitted some posts may have been controversial, like one photo he said someone else made showing a clown's face next to the school's principal.
School leaders initially said Farrell, Jr. violated the Student Code of Conduct, referring to a section about recording a fight between students.
Farrell contended he didn't record the video, but the Code of Conduct also mentions violations for sharing images or videos taken on school property.
“They treated it like a very severe offense,” Farrell, Sr. said. “I thought [a five-day in-school suspension] was pretty extreme.”
The issue of freedom of speech has been argued in court. According to published reports, a U.S. Court of Appeals ruled schools cannot punish students for out-of-school speech that does not create a ‘substantial and material disruption inside the school.’
In this case, Farrell, Sr. said after Action News Jax began asking questions, DCPS determined his son was not in violation of the Code of Conduct, and they dropped the suspension.
DCPS provided this statement:
Whenever student discipline is issued, school and district officials welcome parent involvement to better understand the incident, consequences, and possible intervention strategies. As requested by the parent, district officials reviewed the recommended discipline by school administration. After review, the parent was informed the incident was not enforceable per the Code of Student Conduct and discipline was dismissed."
Cox Media Group
