The Bellevue, Wash., school district has settled out of court with a high school senior who was punished last year for creating a satirical computer “home page” about his school.
Paul K. Kim posted the spoof of the Seattle-area Newport High School on the Internet’s World Wide Web, with electronic links to sexually explicit areas on the Internet.
School officials withdrew Mr. Kim’s endorsement for a National Merit Scholarship and revoked recommendations to seven colleges where he had applied. (See Education Week, June 14, 1995.)
The American Civil Liberties Union of Washington threatened to file suit against the district, contending that it violated Mr. Kim’s First Amendment right of free speech.
Last month, the district apologized to Mr. Kim, who is now a freshman at Columbia University. The district paid him $2,000 and will seek to have him reinstated as a National Merit finalist.
