District, students can use lesson on Constitution

The most frightening thing about Oceanport School District officials’ handling of Ryan Dwyer and the punishment he received for publishing a Web site critical of Maple Place School is how many people managed to get it wrong.

Oceanport residents need to ask themselves how every relevant member of the district’s administration, all of the district’s board members, and most glaringly the school district’s attorney, Anthony P. Sciarrillo, managed to decide it was appropriate to punish Dwyer for what at this point seems like a straightforward exercising of his Constitutional rights.

Their decision shows not only a stunning ignorance of, or disregard for, Dwyer’s First Amendment rights, it also shows a remarkable indifference to following rules in general.

Neither the Dwyers nor any media outlet has been able to get any school official to go on the record about what rule Ryan Dwyer violated.

Even the official documents the Dwyers have received don’t mention any specific rule that was violated.

By punishing Dwyer as they did, school officials not only led themselves into this lawsuit, but also managed to strengthen Dwyer’s case by displaying exactly the kind of behavior he was criticizing them for.

In addition to confirming Dwyer’s view of the school, district officials’ approach to the situation also confirmed much of what critics of public schools say about what is wrong with our public education system.

It seems pretty clear that the needs of the students were not being put first here.

Rather than trying to punish Dwyer, the district might have taken the criticisms to heart and tried to do better by its students, something it could have done by opening a dialogue with all of the students about the site, what was on it, why some statements were protected speech and others were not.

Oceanport blew a golden opportunity to teach its students about free speech and how to exercise it responsibly, instead the district offered an inappropriate lesson about what happens to people who criticize those in power.

Considering all the publicity the matter is generating, however, the opportunity to teach some real-world lessons hasn’t been lost. Dwyer’s Web site and the district’s handling of the matter now offer an even better opportunity to teach because it shows that even the people in charge have to answer for their actions.

Who knows, school officials might even be able to get Ryan Dwyer to come back and share his experience with the students.

Of course, whether or not they decide to call on Dwyer to come to talk to the current students of Maple Place School, they should call him to apologize.