STUDENT'S VULGAR WORDS RAISE LEGAL ISSUE

Practically anyone who saw the message posted on a Woodland High School student's personal Web site would have be offended. The Internet home page created by Brandon Beussink and, according to the heading on the page, his sister, Brittney, contains language that is not only vulgar, but also repulsive in its attacks on the school, its faculty, its principal and the school's own Web page.

If Brandon, who was a junior at WHS at Marble Hill when he created the Web page on his family's home computer last spring, had written his scurrilous attack during a class period at school, there is little doubt that teachers and administrators would have felt an unequivocal responsibility to uphold community standards regarding obscenity and respect for authority by taking action against the student.

But the offending Web page was created on a weekend at home. And as soon as school officials saw it and asked that the page be removed from the Internet, it was.

Still, the school took steps to punish Brandon. He was suspended for 10 days. Because of his absences, he failed all his classes for the semester, even though he passed all his finals.

Now, with the help of the American Civil Liberties Union, Brandon is suing the school district. He wants credit for the classes he took last semester, providing he is allowed to make up the work missed during his suspension. This would allow the student to complete his senior year during the current school year.

The school district is adamant that it had the "right, authority and obligation" to prohibit Brandon's Web attack on the school, according to the district's lawyer, Kenneth McManaman. The lawyer also indicated the district is confident it can win the lawsuit filed by the ACLU.

That hasn't been the case in other tests. For example, in Ohio a high school student created a home-based Web page that was critical of the band teacher. In that case, the school also issued a 10-day suspension. After suing the district for $550,000 for violating his free-speech rights, the student settled out of court for $30,000.

Content on the Internet continues to be a gray area. The ACLU, however, contends that the protection of the First Amendment extends to all forms of speech, whether spoken, written or posted on a Web page.

One key issue is how far a public school's authority reaches beyond its classrooms. In a 1988 Hazelwood case, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that a high school principal can control the content of a student newspaper if an article interferes with the school's "basic educational mission." But other cases have given students the right to circulate underground newspapers on school property.

If asked, most residents of the Woodland School District probably would say they think what Brandon posted on his Web page is offensive and wrong. Would they defend his right to do it anyway? Perhaps some would. A lingering question not even related to the lawsuit: What about Brandon's parents? What kind of penalty -- if any -- did they think was suitable for his actions?