Last winter, Woodland High School in Marble Hill, Missouri suspended then-junior Brandon Beussink for ten days for criticizing the school's teachers and administrators on his personal Internet home page created on his family's home computer. The school then failed him for the semester because of his absences due to the suspension. The suspension and subsequent failure occurred despite Beussink's immediate removal of the content in question from his home page in response to Woodland High administrators' demands. Additionally, Buessink's former website, , has since been removed from the web. On August 27, 1998, the American Civil Liberties Union of Eastern Missouri filed suit in federal court against Woodland R - IV School District on Beussink's behalf, claiming that the school's actions violated Beussink's First Amendment rights.

The ACLU argues that the school district's actions infringe on students' rights to freely disseminate information. Deborah Jacobs, executive director of the ACLU of Eastern Missouri, contends that "The Internet is just a new avenue to get ideas out, and it distresses these school administrators." Jacobs also posits that "What [Beussink] does on his own time, with his own computer, and his own intellect, is not something the school can punish him for."

Defending its actions, the high school stated that the home page in question, on account that it linked to Woodland High's official web site, was disruptive. Specifically, as noted in the complaint filed by the ACLU, Woodland High Principal Yancy Poorman filled out a discipline notice to this effect. The discipline notice indicates that Beussink's actions outside of class, i.e. creating the home page, were the cause of the alleged disruption that led to Beussink's suspension. This notice states that Brandon Beussink "Linked to school site thru www.class.net (sic) Restructured home page with profanity, inappropriate comments and slanderous remarks Personal offenses to Myself (sic) and Mrs. Farrell (open disrespect) Third abuse of computer usage (Bristow, Library - home) This page was viewed by students in class"

Based on the contents of this discipline notice, and Beussink's subsequent suspension, the school district is apparently arguing that the link between Beussink's home page and the school's web site is the source of the "in school" disruption. Seemingly, the school is claiming that out of school activities connected to the school via an Internet link is sufficient to warrant intervention by the school as if the activities occurred on the grounds of the school itself. If the court agrees with this reasoning, it could, in fact, constitute grounds for school intervention. In previous cases, the United States Supreme Court has held that protests that disrupt class work may be prohibited and schools can regulate the substance of student newspapers if they are set up as part of the curriculum. On the other hand, to the detriment of the school's argument, factual distinctions between these decisions and the present case provide potential for the courts to differentiate between the methods of dissemination, namely protest or a student newspaper as opposed to a personal web page.

However, the school district claims there were additional reasons for Beussink's suspension. Counsel for the school district, Kenneth McManaman, sent a letter to the Missouri ACLU director Denise Lieberman prior to the suit's filing, explaining the school's action and citing several other incidents, which the school claims prompted Beussink's suspension. One such incident involves an accusation by Woodland High that Beussink placed an obscenity on a school computer screen saver the previous October, and that he distracted students during class.

According to the Woodland R - IV School District's Computer/Internet Agreement, students who "obtain, (sic) inappropriate material on the computer system" and fail immediately to notify an instructor and close the file may be denied access to the computers or be subject to "serious disciplinary and/or financial consequences, including in the worst case, criminal legal action."

Aside from these allegations, the school may have difficulty substantiating action against a student for activities beyond the confines of the school. A pivotal issue for the court to decide is whether an Internet link between an outside home page and the school's page creates grounds for school intervention based on the limited privileges granted to schools to regulate student speech within the school. At least in one related case, the ACLU has claimed victory short of a judicial decision. In April, Sean O'Brien, a student of Westlake High School in Cleveland, Ohio, obtained a settlement of $30,000 after suing his school district for suspending him for insulting a teacher on the Internet.

In Beussink's case, however, the ultimate goal may be more than just a monetary settlement. According to the complaint filed by the ACLU, Beussink risks not graduating on time next June due to credits lost because of the suspension, even though he passed all of his exams.