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Student Sues School Over Free Speech
Girl Wants To Be Reinstated As Class Secretary
POSTED: 5:14 pm EDT July 16,
2007
UPDATED: 7:59 pm EDT July 16,
2007
BURLINGTON, Conn. -- A Connecticut high school student is suing her school district amid claims that her First Amendment rights were violated.Sixteen-year-old Avery Doninger is suing the Burlington School System after she said she was ousted from her position as class secretary at Lewis Mills High School over comments posted about school staff on her Internet blog.Avery told Eyewitness News that she posted the comments while angry with the school system for moving an extracurricular event, Jam Fest. Avery said that she referred to the administration with an unchoice word on LiveJournal.com, but she has since said that she has apologized for it."I don't think using that word was the right way, and we approached them. That was the right way to do it," Avery said.Channel 3 Eyewitness News reporter Diana Rocco reported that the school system removed Avery from her position and forbade her from giving a speech to her class and held a new election for next year's class secretary because of the posting.Avery's mother, Lauren Doninger, said that she doesn't condone her daughter's behavior, but she said if the school system is going to police the Internet, everyone should be held to the same standard."It was a very rash, emotional decision," Lauren Doninger said. "There was no moment taken to say, 'Gee, we really need to rethink this.'"The 16-page lawsuit was filed against the school's principal and superintendent, neither of whom returned Channel 3's request for comment.Avery said that she would like to be reinstated as the class secretary.
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