蜜桃影视

How an online mishap raises questions about student rights in the era of school shooting anxiety

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Updated December 6

Zach Cassidento sat in the passenger seat of a police car as it drove up the steep driveway to his modest two-story home in Bethany, Connecticut, and parked outside.

Officers headed to Zach鈥檚 bedroom on the lower level, a cluttered space emblematic of an angsty American teenager: neglected scooters and skateboards, a poster for the heavy metal band Five Finger Death Punch, and two computers set up for his favorite game 鈥� the first-person shooter Counter-Strike: Global Offensive.

And the gun.

The gun hanging on the wall was a toy, but it didn鈥檛 look that way to at least one person who saw the picture he posted on Snapchat that morning last March. The incident sparked an ordeal that put Zach squarely in the middle of a contentious national debate over security, social media, and student rights amid heightened concerns over mass school shootings.

The airsoft gun, which shoots plastic beads similar to BBs, resembles an M4 assault rifle. The manufacturer emblazons the guns with a smiley face on the side and the phrase 鈥淗ave a nice day.鈥� Like many kids in the neighborhood, Zach collected the guns and enjoyed shooting them with friends in the woods outside of town 鈥� something he planned to do for his 18th birthday, just a few days away.

But when he uploaded a captionless picture of the gun to Snapchat that morning before school, he came under suspicion. Zach, then a senior at Amity Regional High School, said he didn鈥檛 intend to threaten anybody. A classmate who saw the post felt otherwise.

鈥淚 was like, 鈥業鈥檓 going to take a picture of this because I think it鈥檚 awesome and I know the people I鈥檓 friends with think it鈥檚 awesome,鈥欌�� Zach told 蜜桃影视. 鈥淏ut apparently it wasn鈥檛 so awesome to somebody.鈥�

The problem, in a word: timing. Just weeks earlier, a gunman had opened fire in a Parkland, Florida, high school and killed 17 people. Memories of tragedy have yet to fade in Zach鈥檚 community, located just 20 miles east of Newtown, Connecticut, which in 2012 suffered the deadliest K-12 school shooting in American history.

What in another era might have been dismissed as harmless teenage fun now is potential fodder for anxious administrators eager to prevent the next school shooting. Social media websites have become ubiquitous platforms for student self-expression. They鈥檙e also outlets for students to broadcast shooting threats and suicide warnings.

Missed trouble signs from social media have become a macabre clich茅 of mass violence. The Parkland suspect about becoming a 鈥減rofessional school shooter.鈥� About a week prior to a 2016 South Carolina elementary school shooting, the suspected gunman of his goal to 鈥渂eat鈥� the Newtown shooter and asked, 鈥淪hould I shoot up my elementary school or my middle school?鈥� And before a 2017 shooting at a New Mexico high school, the gunman on an online gaming forum, noting, 鈥淚f things go according to plan, today would be when I die.鈥�

After each tragedy, news organizations scour the suspect鈥檚 online profiles and reach similar conclusions. 鈥淭hey say, 鈥楬ow did you not know? This was all pushed out through social media prior to鈥欌�� the shooting, said Hart Brown, former chief operating officer at Firestorm Solutions, which helps schools monitor social media for potential violence.

Given that reality, schools nationwide have turned to outlets like Facebook and Twitter for clues.

But some, including Zach, see the practice as imperfect. His story illustrates the challenge schools face in identifying true threats in a digital realm that offers unparalleled access to students鈥� thoughts and ideas, but where intentions are frequently unclear. The growing sophistication of tools used by schools to monitor and respond to students鈥� online behavior has only raised the stakes. In some cases, punishing students for online speech has cost districts hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal settlements. But schools have also faced to protect students from online harm, or for knowing about a potential threat and not reporting it.

鈥淪chool districts are very cognizant that there are legal issues on both sides, almost a damned-if-you-do, damned-if-you-don鈥檛 scenario,鈥� said Amelia Vance, director of the Education Privacy Project at the Future of Privacy Forum.

‘I Want to Die’: 鈥業 Want to Die鈥�

Large-scale efforts to identify student threats trace back to Columbine, which sparked national panic over the potential for mass school violence.

Following the 1999 mass school shooting in Colorado, the U.S. Secret Service showing that in 81 percent of school shootings, someone had information about the gunman鈥檚 intentions before the attack. In July, the agency released an update of sorts that recommends that educators and law enforcement when investigating a potentially dangerous suspect. Although mass shootings this year have caused a spike in anxiety over school safety and prompted heated policy debates, they remain statistically rare, and campuses have actually become safer in recent years, according to recent National Center for Education Statistics data.

Among those who see value in social media posts as a source of information to protect schools is psychologist Marisa Randazzo, who trains educators how to identify and respond to threats as a managing partner at SIGMA Threat Management Associates.

Confronting people about worrisome posts gives officials a window to intervene when someone feels they鈥檙e 鈥渁t the end of their rope,鈥� said Randazzo, who previously spent a decade at the Secret Service, where she co-directed the Safe School Initiative. The important thing to remember about school shooters, she said, is that they often feel ambivalent about the attack; they don鈥檛 necessarily want to carry out the shooting but feel they鈥檝e run out of options.

鈥淭hey will put their ideas out there and see what reaction people give,鈥� she said. 鈥淭here鈥檚 a chance for us to pick up on that and figure out if they really are planning to engage in violence and find ways to prevent it.鈥�

That kernel of a chance is leading some districts to adopt a zero-tolerance approach to online threats.

One of them is the school district in Lebanon City, Ohio, where online threats to shoot up the school are not uncommon, Superintendent Todd Yohey said. Students and parents flag worrisome social media posts several times a month, he said, and each is taken seriously. Often, they result in school discipline, arrest, and incarceration.

鈥淭here was a time when we would have called the student in, had a discussion, got the parents involved, and then made a decision about whether it was a real threat,鈥� he said. But times have changed. 鈥淣ow, if there鈥檚 a social media post that says, 鈥業鈥檓 going to shoot up the school,鈥� that immediately involves law enforcement.鈥�

Also taking a zero-tolerance approach to student social media posts is the school district in suburban Birmingham, Alabama 鈥� which faced criticism this year for its response to online speech. District superintendent Craig Pouncey said he recently approved the expulsion of three students who uploaded pictures of themselves to Facebook holding guns and making gang signs. Images like that are a threat to students even if they don鈥檛 mention the school directly, he said.

鈥淪ometimes a superintendent has to take certain actions regardless of what the law says,鈥� Pouncey told 蜜桃影视. 鈥淲hether or not those expulsions will stick, it鈥檚 immaterial. I had to show that it was enough concern for me that I鈥檝e taken action against those students.鈥�

But online speech is often ambiguous. For example, a statement like 鈥淚 want to die鈥� could indicate suicidal thoughts or a hyperbolic expression of humiliation.

鈥淚t could be interpreted a lot of different ways, so we can鈥檛 overreact when we see something on social media and assume, therefore, this is the next school shooter,鈥� Randazzo said. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 where social media information could be treated inappropriately or handled badly.鈥�

‘Have a Nice Day’: 鈥楬ave a Nice Day鈥�

As far as Zach can tell, context didn鈥檛 seem to matter much to school officials the morning of March 9. He was in his first-period human biology class when two security guards showed up to his classroom. They pulled him into a hallway, patted him down, and escorted him to the principal鈥檚 office.

鈥淚 was walked down the hallway and people were just staring at me, and I looked like I was walking through a jail,鈥� said Zach, towering at 6-foot-4 with a backwards baseball cap over his shaggy hair. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 embarrassing.鈥�

In the office, an associate principal explained the situation: A student saw the Snapchat post and, fearful it signaled a possible school shooting, showed it to school officials. Worried parents were calling, and officials considered locking down the school.

Zach was suspended for the day for disrupting the educational process, and police arrested him for breach of peace, a misdemeanor. A school administrator made him delete the Snapchat post from his phone. Officials called his mother, GraceAnne Cassidento, who drove home to let the police inside the house, where they conducted a search and confiscated his collection of three airsoft guns for more than a week.

Zach said school officials behaved rashly. He believes that if they had simply Googled the brand name on the side of the gun, APS Conception, they could have avoided a situation he characterized as a huge misunderstanding. Zach explained to school officials that the gun was just a toy, but he suspects they viewed the manufacturer’s inscription, 鈥淗ave a nice day,鈥� as a cryptic threat.

James Connelly, until recently the interim superintendent of Amity Regional School District No. 5, declined to comment directly on Zach鈥檚 case. He explained that he did not work for the district at the time of the incident and that even if he had, he would be constrained by student privacy laws. But he spoke more generally about district policy.

The 鈥渟ee something, say something鈥� mantra is a normal part of life in the district. Anxiety levels in the area spiked after Sandy Hook, he said, and again after this year鈥檚 shootings in Parkland and Santa Fe, Texas. More recently, the district from parents who claimed school officials had not done enough to protect students from anti-Semitic social media posts.

The district website allows students to report tips anonymously if they don鈥檛 feel comfortable coming forward publicly. When a problematic online post is brought to their attention, Connelly said, educators and the school police work together to determine its severity.

鈥淢ost of the time, the student who posted it said, 鈥業 didn鈥檛 mean it that way,鈥� or 鈥業t was misinterpreted,鈥欌�� Connelly said. In those situations, he added, administrators try to calm those with concerns and 鈥渞emind the person posting, 鈥榊ou know, you have to take a look at how this is going to be perceived by some people out there.鈥欌��

Zach said he didn鈥檛 think of Parkland before he posted the picture, but the seriousness of school violence isn鈥檛 lost on him. Before walking into his high school that fateful day, he brushed off a friend who noted that his Snapchat post could be misconstrued. If he could do it over again, Zach said he鈥檇 delete the post.

But he also believes the school should not have intervened in something he did at home.

鈥淭here was no threat, the picture was not taken during school hours, the picture was not taken on school property, and the picture was taken on my property, my phone, and posted onto my social media,鈥� Zach said. 鈥淣othing about what I did involved the school, and they punished me for it.鈥�

In the nights after his arrest and leading up to his appearance in juvenile court, Zach struggled to sleep on the mattress that鈥檚 plopped on the floor in his bedroom. He said he lost 20 pounds and a doctor told him he needed to eat more. School security staff treated him with suspicion.

Although he said he had to meet once with a probation officer at New Haven鈥檚 juvenile court, he wasn鈥檛 required to appear before a judge or complete any community service. Police and juvenile court officials declined to provide details about the case because Zach was just under 18 at the time.

The ordeal wasn鈥檛 what Zach had in mind for his birthday.

鈥淚鈥檓 turning 18, I鈥檓 supposed to be at the gas station buying lottery tickets or something,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 shouldn鈥檛 be in court and laying in my bed rolling back and forth thinking I鈥檓 going insane.鈥�

A Substantial Disruption: A Substantial Disruption

The Cassidentos considered pressing charges, but GraceAnne, a single mother of three teenage boys who works in property management, couldn鈥檛 afford a lengthy court battle. An attorney offered to take on the case pro bono in exchange for a large percentage of the potential damages. But Zach, nearing graduation, decided the fight wasn鈥檛 worth it.

Students in similar situations have sued their school districts on First Amendment grounds, to mixed results. Districts have paid out hundreds of thousands of dollars in settlements after being accused of taking surveillance too far.

Under a 1969 Supreme Court ruling, student free speech is protected unless it causes a substantial disruption at school. Now courts are applying that standard to students鈥� online speech outside of school. Although courts , most have have sided with educators.

In one exception, in 2015, a federal judge of an Oregon middle school student whose profane Facebook post said a health teacher 鈥渘eeds to be shot.鈥� The judge found that the student鈥檚 post wasn鈥檛 a true threat and did not prompt 鈥渁 widespread whispering campaign at school.鈥�

In the highest-profile lawsuit to date over a student鈥檚 online speech, federal courts went the other way. In 2011, a Mississippi high school student wrote and a rap song accusing two coaches of sexual misconduct, including the lyric 鈥済oing to get a pistol down your mouth.鈥� After the school suspended the student and sent him to an alternative school, he sued on First Amendment grounds. The 5th Circuit Court of Appeals , noting that the song caused a substantial disruption at school. The student appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, with support from rappers T.I., Big Boi, and Killer Mike, but the nation鈥檚 highest court declined to take up the case.

Absent guidance from the Supreme Court, students should assume that discretion is in the hands of school administrators, said Abena Hutchful, coordinator of the youth free-expression program at the National Coalition Against Censorship.

There are clear instances when schools should have authority to punish students for their online speech, such as when a student posts, 鈥淚鈥檓 going to shoot up the school,鈥� Hutchful said. But 鈥渕ore often than not,鈥� she said, schools overreach by using their authority to regulate 鈥渁rtistic or benign expression.鈥�

Zach isn鈥檛 the only one who claims he was erroneously punished for social media activity in the post-Parkland environment. In Arkansas, a school district on allegations it expelled a junior for posting to Instagram a picture of himself wearing a trench coat and holding an assault rifle 鈥斅燼n image the student argued was styled to resemble a 1920s mobster. The lawsuit against the Huntsville school district alleges educators violated the student鈥檚 free speech rights and erroneously accused him of 鈥渃riminal and terroristic conduct toward a school community.鈥�

In some cases, schools have disciplined students for online speech that appeared utterly unthreatening. Attorney Kristin Waters Sullivan said that鈥檚 what happened to her client, Wade Chapman, who was for a tweet that actually advocated against violence. As students across the country planned to march out of their schools to protest school violence after February鈥檚 Parkland shooting, Chapman was given an in-school suspension for an angry tweet about his suburban Birmingham district鈥檚 plan to host a 鈥渨alk up, not out鈥� event instead. The event encouraged students to offer compliments to peers rather than storm out of school in protest. 鈥淭ranslation: We don鈥檛 care about student voices or the fact some feel unsafe at school,鈥� Chapman, now a freshman at the University of Mississippi, tweeted.

Waters Sullivan called the case a 鈥渃ut and dried鈥� First Amendment issue, and Chapman reached an undisclosed settlement with the district. She said the district acted out of a desire to protect its image after Chapman criticized its plans, not to keep students safe.

Pouncey, the suburban Birmingham superintendent, said Chapman was disciplined for creating 鈥渁n atmosphere of instability within the school environment鈥� because his tweet prompted conversations in the community about school safety. Though he acknowledged students have First Amendment rights, he called Chapman鈥檚 tweet 鈥渇ake news.鈥� He said the district discouraged walkouts to protect students鈥� safety.

‘School Shooter’: 鈥楽chool Shooter鈥�

Zach still has his collection of airsoft guns 鈥斅爄ncluding the one stamped with the 鈥渉ave a nice day鈥� slogan. But these days, his interest in using them has waned 鈥� partly due to the incident, he said, and partly as a result of growing up.

For sure, the situation could have been worse. Zach wasn鈥檛 expelled 鈥� others have been. In fact, he graduated from Amity High last spring. When he鈥檚 not at his job installing windows, he spends his time playing video games and fixing up his old Jeep Cherokee that sputters as he drives down Connecticut鈥檚 wooded highways.

Reflecting on the incident, Zach acknowledged that school officials have a duty to check up on students who post troubling messages on social media because 鈥渟ome people are a danger.鈥� But in his situation, he said, they could have done more research. They could have checked his disciplinary record, which he said was clean, or talked with school officials who know him.

鈥淢aybe come to me and talk to me and see what鈥檚 up before arresting me,鈥� he said. 鈥淥ne security guard should have come in and spoke to me nicely instead of completely freaking me out.鈥�

Despite the potential for misunderstandings, his mother noted that students shouldn鈥檛 feel afraid to speak up if they see something online they find troubling, including the student who came forward about her son.

鈥淲e need kids to come forward, so I can鈥檛 say I blame whoever it was by any stretch,鈥� GraceAnne said. 鈥淏ut the adults are the ones who needed to make the decisions here, not the kids.鈥�

Although Zach is trying to move on from the incident, others have yet to forget. His 17-year-old brother Justin said students at the school still crack jokes about Zach, the 鈥渟chool shooter.鈥�

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Lead image:聽Recent Amity Regional High School graduate Zach Cassidento plays video games at home in Bethany, Connecticut.聽(Mark Keierleber)聽

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