Student barred from class office for off-campus blog post
Avery Doninger, a junior at Lewis S. Mills High School in Burlington, Connecticut, was barred in 2007 from running for senior class secretary after writing a home-computer blog post calling administrators 'douchebags' over the rescheduling of a school event. The Second Circuit upheld the school's action.
In April 2007, Lewis S. Mills High School junior Avery Doninger posted on her personal LiveJournal blog from home that 'jamfest is canceled due to douchebags in central office' and urged readers to contact the superintendent. Administrators barred her from running for senior class secretary as a result. Her mother sued; in Doninger v. Niehoff, 642 F.3d 334 (2d Cir. 2011), the Second Circuit affirmed dismissal of her First Amendment claim and granted qualified immunity to the school officials, finding the post was reasonably foreseeable to reach the school and disrupt operations.