A federal judge Friday rejected a motion filed by Ladue teacher Christina Thomas to expedite hearings on the Missouri Facebook Law.
The decision was issued before Gov. Jay Nixon signed SB 1, which revises the law and now requires all Missouri school districts to enact a policy concerning teacher-student communication by March 1, 2012.
The judge rejected the motion to expedite the hearing and to make it a class action suit.
The lawsuit was filed after school officials told Ms. Thomas she could not communicate with her own child through social networking sites.
According to the petition, "Ladue School District has notified its teachers that they cannot have exclusive communications with their own children on Facebook, if they meet the statutory definition of student or former student. Specifically, Plaintiff and other teachers at Ladue School District were notified in writing that because of the statute they will be prohibited from communicating exclusively through Facebook or other social-networking sites with their own children or members of their Sunday School classes, athletic teams, or scout troops “unless or until exceptions are enacted[,]” if the children are students or former students as defined by the statute."
The lawsuit says that SB 54 is "a prior restraint on speech in that it requires promulgation and enforcement of a policy that restricts the speech of Plaintiff and members of the Plaintiff Class before the speech occurs."
The petition asks the judge to certify the lawsuit as a class action suit in which all Missouri school teachers would be members of the class and asks for preliminary and permanent injunctions against enforcement of the law.
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