Fake Twitter account targeting Des Moines principal stirring free speech debate

West Des Moines, Iowa – The principal at West Des Moines’ Valley West High School says he wasn’t overly concerned about a fake Twitter account that uses his name until antisemitic messages were posted.

 

The Des Moines Register reports Valley High School Principal Jim Mollison felt messages critical of a decision to ban sexually suggestive dancing at school dances was only an attack on him as principal. Now he feels the anti-Semitic messages are an attack on his wife and children, who are Jewish.

 

Some students say the sender of the tweets has the right to send them. Others say it’s inappropriate.

 

American Civil Liberties Union of Iowa spokesman Ben Stone says the school’s authority is limited.

 

District spokeswoman Elaine Watkins-Miller says officials are trying to determine what they are allowed to do.

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