The law prohibits students from creating fake online profiles for teachers. 'It's the first statute that exposes 15-, 16-, 17-year-olds to potential criminal sanctions for a dumb mistake they make, something stupid they say,' says Chris Brook of the ACLU of North Carolina, who adds that the law is too broad. 'It had this image of me as this drug addict, violent person, supersexual, that I wouldn't want to portray.'ĭouglas told the kids he planned to call the police - because under the new North Carolina law, the student behind the tweets could spend a month in jail and pay a $1,000 fine. It started to make sense when he learned a student had created a fake Twitter account using his name. When he was teaching, sometimes he'd get a strange question and the kids would laugh.
State officials have now made it a crime to 'intimidate or torment' teachers online.Ĭhip Douglas knew something was up with his 10th-grade English class.
Ganging up on classmates online can get students suspended.īut sometimes teachers are the target of cyberbullying, and in North Carolina, educators have said enough is enough.
