A high school student in Wichita, Kansas, was suspended for the rest of the school year after tweeting a mild criticism of the school sports programs.
Senior Wesley Teague was president of his class and an athlete himself. In his view, the various sports teams at Wichita Heights High School had a tough year, which led him to tweet, “‘Heights U’ is equivalent to WSU’s football.”
The tweet referenced “Heights U” — the nickname that other students use to refer to sports teams at Wichita Heights — and Wichita State University football, which was disbanded in 1986.
“We weren’t that good at sports this year,” he said in a statement to a local news channel.
Some other students were offended by the tweet, and the school feared they would cause a disturbance. Administrators suspended several of the threatening students, and also Teague.
Teague’s tweet violated the school’s policy on cyberbullying, according to an official statement.
“Wesley posted some very inappropriate tweets about the Heights athletic teams, aggressively disrespecting many athletes,” wrote Assistant Principal Monique Arndt. “After reading the tweets and taking statements from other students it was found that Wesley acted to incite the majority of our Heights athletes.”
Teague will be allowed to graduate, but may not attend other graduation-related activities and is banned from campus. He is no longer giving the class president’s speech at the graduation ceremony.
“It’s a complete overreaction,” said Teague.
Teague and his family are currently trying to get the suspension revoked.
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