What began as relatively harmless schoolyard gossip turned into a full-fledged legal battle after Beverly Vista school officials suspended a student for posting a YouTube video depicting a fellow pupil in negative light.

The video, documenting the discussion of nearly twenty Beverly Vista Middle School students, was shot at a restaurant some four blocks away from the school site. At the center of discussion, among other things, was a fellow female classmate who students deemed conceited and spoiled.

School officials learned of the online posting after the student discussed in the video came forward to school administrators with her mother. School officials withdrew the video’s creator from class and demanded that it be immediately deleted, citing the unwanted attention thrust upon the video’s main subject matter.

The student who uploaded the video to the popular video sharing site was subsequently suspended, on grounds that the incident was one of “cyber bullying.” In retaliation, the student attained legal counsel and filed a lawsuit against the district in a Los Angeles federal district court in June.

The plaintiff in the case argues that her free speech rights were violated when school officials suspended her for uploading the video to the internet. Attorneys representing the video’s creator claim that school personnel had no authority to suspend the student, citing that the incident occurred off school campus.
The defendant in the case, school Principal Cherryne Lue-sang, is receiving criticism for failure to discipline other students involved in the incident.

Officials within the district say this is the first cyber bullying case they’ve had to tackle. Both sides in the case are currently filing motions in the May 2008 incident.

Districts nationwide have seen a rise in the number of students engaged in defame-oriented online activities, and have had similar troubles in handling the fallout of such incidents.