> Wrong. The kid did it off school grounds, teh school had no jurisdiction to provide any form of punishment.
Wrong. The school is well within its rights to regulate who gets to run for Student Government and who doesn’t. Running for Student Government isn’t a “right”.
Sure, she has the right to Free Speech. But sometimes Free Speech carries consequences. There is no such thing as the Right to Consequence-Free Speech. In this case, the consequence was to be denied the opportunity to run for Student Government.
And yes, it is perfectly OK and expected for the school to require students to be Respectful. It is a societal norm that should be taught in the home and reinforced at school: just like not picking your nose, and like washing your hands after going to the toilet.
The school would have been remiss if it had not punished the girl for being Disrespectful — even if it was after hours.
Do you think this would have really caused a foreseeable risk of substantial disruption to anything? I find it very hard to believe. I can’t see how her presence on the student government would disrupt anything.