Associated Incidents
PHOENIX -- Is a threat real if it's never made?
That's the question at the center of a lawsuit filed by the parents of an Arizona student who was suspended under his school's threat and intimidation policy over a joke he made at home.
The family's attorney said the issue at hand is an email the Marana High School student was drafting to a teacher on a school-issued laptop while his mother was watching.
He started by messing around with joke messages, Aaron Baumann of Arizona State University's First Amendment Clinic told KTAR News 92.3 FM's Outspoken with Bruce and Gaydos on Thursday.
What did Arizona student do to get suspended?
"The first joke he typed was 'Mister, mister, I want to date your sister.' His mom said, 'Hey, delete that.' He deleted it. The second joke he typed was 'Skibidi toilet my grade is in the toilet.' She said, 'Delete that.'" Baumann explained.
It was the third joke --- "Gang, gang give me a better grade or I shoot up the school, homie" --- that caused the trouble, thanks to an artificial intelligence program installed on the computer to monitor activity.
According to The Associated Press, thousands of districts across the country use software like Gaggle and Lightspeed Alert to monitor online activities for signs that kids might hurt themselves or others.
Educators say the technology has saved lives. But critics warn it can criminalize children for careless words.
"What's important here is that the student didn't send this email to anybody at the school. ... The school only knew about this because of this AI surveillance," Baumann said.
What happened after AI program flagged joke message?
Administrators contacted the student's parents after the AI program flagged what he'd typed. The boy's mother explained she was there at the time and that he was clearly joking around.
"As soon as the principal of the school talked to the student's mom, she knew that there was no threat there," Baumann said. "That's where the line is drawn, is where there is no threat there, the school can't suspend a student for speaking at home in a way that had no impact on the school."
Students are often punished, and even can face legal action, for making threats --- even as a joke.
In this case, the Marana Unified School District decided that just typing a joke threat warranted punishment under its zero tolerance policy.
The principal called the family back and said the boy was being suspended for 10 days and that the term could be extended after a hearing.
"At this long-term suspension hearing, the student was really lectured by the school district that it's just not OK to talk about this, with no acknowledgment that the student was at home with his mom and that this speech didn't affect the school at all," Baumann said.
The final punishment ended up being a 45-day suspension.
"They didn't distinguish between what he did and what would be an actual threat that put students' lives and safety at risk," Baumann said.
The lawyer and his clients think the punishment is unreasonable and are questioning if the student's rights were violated.
"We don't claim that the school shouldn't have acknowledged receipt of this notification from the AI software and then called the mom, talked to the student, realized there was nothing there and maybe talked to the student about appropriate use of technology," Baumann said. "All of that would have been reasonable."
The Associated Press contributed to this report.