Avery Doninger was disqualified by officials at Lewis Mills High School ("LMHS"), in Burlington, Connecticut, from running for senior class secretary after posting on her weblog a "vulgar and misleading message about the supposed cancellation" of a school event called "Jamfest".  Doninger and her mother sued to force LMHS to allow her to run for secretary, which was denied by a U.S. district court (See School Law Notes, November 21, 2007). They appealed the decision, but the Second Circuit Court of Appeals held that Doninger's constitutional rights were not violated when LMHS officials decided to punish her for her speech even though it was posted off-campus. Doninger v
Niehoff, __ F3d __ (CA 2, 2008).

One of the strong points of working with Alternatives in Motion this school year and in the past is that they work so well with local communities. If there is a need in your community - someone needs mobility assistance, they work closely with the school to fundraise and promote events. This is a wonderful way to raise money because the schools know where the money is going and they can see it firsthand. For us here on staff at MASC/MAHS, we've always worked with the Charity of the Year in a very different way. We facilitate the process between them and the member schools. This year, something happened that allowed us a unique interaction with our Charity of the Year, Alternatives in Motion. Below is a letter I wrote to the staff of Alternatives in Motion (AIM) today...

While there were only about 100 advisers there, the energy that circulated made it feel like twice as many! This past Thursday/Friday, January 24-25, we hosted advisers from around Michigan at the Annual State Advisers Conference in Mt. Pleasant. We kicked off the evening with Karen Dawson, who shared tales of humor and inspiration and provided advisers some much needed laughs and the reinforcement to keep doing what they're doing - leading student leaders. Who knew you could do so much with a paper plate!?!?