Honor student expelled over dancing photos

I don't understand those who catatonically gripe about the ACLU. I can understand disagreeing on certain issues, but you have to keep in mind that the ACLU is one of few organizations brave enough to challenge the rise of tyranny in our schools - one of America's key battlegrounds of controversy.

The ACLU has filed a federal suit on behalf of a student at a public middle school in Mississippi who was the target of an illegal search and a wrongful expulsion.

When the honor roll student got in trouble for receiving text messages in class about a family emergency, school authorities called in the police to search his cell phone. There was no grounds whatsoever to search the phone.

The school claimed the search yielded photos that showed "gang-related activity." This turned out to be an outright lie. The photos were of the student dancing at home.

The result: expulsion. This despite the fact that even if he did have gang photos, the maximum punishment according to the school's written policy is a 3-day suspension.

One wonders if he wasn't kicked out of the entire Mississippi school system, because he then had to enroll in Tennessee. But the school in Tennessee was so ridden by gangs that he and his family left the area completely.

Schools falsely accuse a student of "gang-related activity" yet won't do anything about the real gangs that plague the school?

Also, even the school's written policy on cell phones is illegal: It requires the payment of a $25 fee to get confiscated cell phones back. If we had cell phones in my day, that would have been called naked extortion.

(Source: http://www.aclu.org/racialjustice/edu/40885prs20090901.html)