School discipline in the dark: Crippling court confusion offers mixed messages for school administrators attempting to discipline students for cyber misconduct

This dissertation examines the demarcation line of school authority between off campus conduct and on campus discipline involving student cyber speech. A lack of clear direction from the Supreme court has left school administrators wading through a quagmire of advice and disparate lower court rulings regarding their authority to punish students when off campus speech affects the educational environment on campus. Specifically, this dissertation analyzes four seminal Supreme Court school speech cases, and two current appellate panel decisions in an attempt to find connections to today's legal needs from past precedential cases that were decided prior to online communication tools. Student speech cases decided decades ago can still be relevant to today's social media student speech cases. However, a close reading of judicial opinions and intent is required to use seminal cases to handle today's student social media speech that interferes with the educational aims of public schools.