Your Defense Against Blogger Attacks

Legal Brief

Imagine these two scenarios:

No. 1: An anonymous blogger tags the superintendent in every post on an infamous blog full of slanted facts and misinformation about the school district.

No. 2: A nasty text or voice message shows up on your cell phone from an individual whose name you recognize, but you subsequently learn that person never texted/called. Rather it was sent through a mobile app from someone else’s cell with ill intent (an act of caller ID spoofing).

To most school leaders, these behaviors are unexplainable and incomprehensible. Yet hiding one’s identity behind personal technology today has become not just a child’s game but something adults engage in at alarming rates. It has become the new normal and, unfortunately, the law has yet to fully catch up.

Solicit Help

In my eight years as an attorney with the Illinois Association of School Administrators, I don’t believe a week goes by without a request for help from a school administrator who is dealing with the effects of adult cyberbullying and/or harassment. While growing attention has been focused on student involvement in such acts, little attention is directed at adult conduct.

What does a school district or an administrator who is targeted for personal attack do in these situations?

The first step is to seek out assistance from the school district’s legal counsel, as well as your professional association on the state level. The starting point is a plan to deal with the attacker’s behavior.

The next consideration is to review the content for untrue and unsupported statements in an effort to build a potential case for defamation, libel or slander. These types of lawsuits often are costly and hard to litigate, especially given a school administrator’s status as a public figure. The situation is further compounded by the fact most of these bloggers hide behind anonymity.

Some recent court decisions have supported the release of an anonymous blogger’s identity when the published material reaches a certain level of harassment and/or defamation, yet this is costly and time-consuming.

Most states have criminal statutes that prohibit cyber harassment and cyber stalking. These causes of action would require involvement by law enforcement and state’s attorneys, and the prosecution bar is high under the First Amendment and other statutory protections of public expression against public officials.

Focus on Favorable

My strongest recommendation is this: Rather than spend time and energy on the negative behavior, tell your side of the story by focusing on the favorable things you and others in your school district do each day that benefit students.

The goal always is to stay above the fray, to take the high road.

The most heinous blogs almost always self-implode due to their absurdity. Work together with community groups and parents’ organizations to establish the positive without directly responding to the anonymous blogger’s misinformed nonsense. With luck it works. In the end, remember this saying by Mark Twain, “Never argue with stupid people. They will drag you down to their level and then beat you with experience.”

Without a doubt, there should be more research on this problem in the adult sphere and expansion of the laws pertaining to adult cyberbullying and harassment. Our laws have yet to find a balance between First Amendment rights to free expression and the public’s right to question the conduct of school administrators and public officials versus the effect of blogs and other technology-enabled actions intended to skirt the law and misinform the public.

Until that day arrives, we have to continue to be positive stewards of public education and promote the outstanding work educators do every day.

Sara Boucek is associate director and legal counsel for the Illinois Association of School Administrators in Springfield, Ill.
E-mail: sboucek@iasaedu.org
Twitter: @sboucek