School Apologizes For Punishing Web-Site Creator

A former Newport High School student who was punished for creating an Internet site that made fun of his school has received a formal apology and settlement from the Bellevue School District.

“This establishes for students and high school administrators that freedom of speech does apply to the Internet,” said Paul Kim, now a freshman at Columbia University in New York. “Symbolically, it means a lot.”

Doug Honig, public education director for the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Washington state, said the out-of-court settlement reached Thursday reinforces the “underlying right students have to express their opinions out of school.”

“I think we learned something from this,” said school district spokeswoman Ann Oxrieder.

In March, Kim created a page on the Internet’s World Wide Web - the popular segment of the Internet that allows viewers to see text, pictures, sound and video - poking fun at the school. Kim’s “Unofficial Newport High School Home Page” included links to other sites on the Internet that dealt with sex. Kim did the work on his private Internet account outside of school time.