Kara KOWALSKI, Plaintiff–Appellant,

v.

BERKELEY COUNTY SCHOOLS, a public school district; Manny P. Arvon, II, Superintendent, in his official capacity; Ronald Stephens, Principal, in his official capacity and individually; Becky J. Harden, Vice Principal, in her official capacity and individually; Buffy Ashcraft, cheerleading coach, in her official capacity and individually; Rick Deuell, Assistant Superintendent, in his official capacity, Defendants–Appellees.

652 F.3d 565, 271 Ed. Law Rep. 707

No. 10–1098.
Argued: March 25, 2011.

Decided: July 27, 2011.

Facts:

On December 1, 2005, Kara Kowalski, created a MySpace discussion group with the heading “S.A.S.H.” “S.A.S.H.” was an acronym for “Students Against Sluts Herpes.” Although a student who attended Musselman High School, Ray Parsons, stated the “S.A.S.H.’’ acronym stood for “Students Against Shay’s Herpes.” Kowalski invited approximately one hundred people to join her group, “S.A.S.H.,” consisting mostly of Musselman High School students.

The school administrators concluded that Kowalski had indeed created the “hate website.” She had violated the school’s policy against “harassment, bullying, and intimidation.” Her punishment was suspension for ten days and was issued a ninety day “social suspension.” This prevented her from attending any extracurricular activity within those ninety days. However, in the end the Assistant Superintendent Rick Deuell reduced her out-of-school suspension to five days, while the ninety day “social suspension” remained the same.

Kowalski argued that her rights were violated to include the First Amendment freedom of speech; the Fourth Amendment, due process; the Eighth Amendment, cruel and unusual punishment; and lastly the Fourteenth Amendment, equal protection.

Kowalski stated she created the MySpace discussion group “S.A.S.H.” “off-campus and used