Earlier in her high school career Sally*, now a senior, was suspended for three days after being caught drinking by the Garfield Administration. When she received the suspension, she was told that the disciplinary action could be removed from her record on two conditions: that she keep good behavior for the rest of high school, and that she write a letter to Principal Ted Howard apologizing for her actions and stating her commitment to being a model student. Other than a single lunch detention, Sally has managed to stay out of trouble at Garfield and has maintained high grades throughout her four years. Yet because an incriminating Facebook photo of her was brought to the attention of Mr. Howard, the suspension will never be removed from her record.

“It’s just ridiculous. I have done almost absolutely nothing since [I was an underclassmen],” she says.

Sally claims that she herself was not engaging in any illegal activity in the picture, but fellow students around her were. Apparently this was evidence enough for the administration. Principal Howard saw the photo after a parent logged on to Facebook, printed out pictures of Garfield students, and sent them to his office.

“That’s my private life; it’s not at school. I don’t understand how it affects [my school work],” said Sally.

While the photos did include other students, administration is not allowed to discipline students based solely on photos taken outside of school; they may only use them as further proof if a student is already in a compromising situation.

Although upset about the situation, Sally is not surprised. Like many students, she resents the disciplinary policies of the administration.

“I always expected them…to pull some crap like this. I wasn’t that shocked,” she said.

Now in her senior year, Sally is most concerned about what effects this could have on her college application process.

“College is really stressful, and this makes it even more stressful,” she said about the decision to keep the suspension on her record. “It just affects my future so much.”

Facebook has recently been subjected to a great amount of pressure to allow its users their right to privacy. Some users are even using the site itself to protest, creating groups such as, “Don’t you f*****’ steal my rights to me myself and I, Facebook!” and asking the website to not share photos or information from the site with any company, government agency, or school. Currently Facebook reserves the right to disclose the information on its website when asked by companies, lawyers, or government agencies, if the targeted person or persons are accused of illegal activity.

Garfield still has little power over most illegal activity undertaken by students, despite available proof in public documents such as Facebook photos. These limits exist because many possibly incriminating situations occur outside of school property, not during school hours or functions. This does not mean, however, that students are completely immune from discipline: if there is an investigation into a student’s overall character, online photos can be used as evidence of how a student acts.

Sally’s punishment is not the first time internet photos have caused trouble for Garfield students. Two years ago, pictures of students were found on MySpace and seen by Ted Howard. The administration was not able to discipline the subjects for the illegal acts documented, but the students still felt violated and administrators disconcerted.

“I think students should be careful about it because, obviously, learning from this, you can get in a lot of trouble,” said Sally.

*Name has been changed