School aide fighting Facebook suspension

• Tweet

CASSOPOLIS, Mich., April 2 (UPI) -- A Michigan teacher's aide says she was suspended for refusing to allow school administrators access to her Facebook account to examine a picture she posted.

Kimberly Hester, an aide at Frank Squires Elementary School in Cassopolis, Mich., found herself in trouble with the Lewis Cass Intermediate School District after posting a picture in April 2011 of a co-worker's pants around her ankles and a pair of shoes as a joke, WSBT-TV, South Bend, Ind., reported Wednesday..

After a parent complained to the school, district Superintendent Robert Colby told Hester he wanted to see her Facebook account.

"He asked me three times if he could view my Facebook and I repeatedly said I was not OK with that," Hester told WSBT.

Hester said she then received a letter from the school distract informing her that "... in the absence of you voluntarily granting Lewis Cass ISD administration access to you[r] Facebook page, we will assume the worst and act accordingly."

Paid administrative leave was followed by a suspension for Hester, who is fighting the school district.

"I stand by it," Hester told WSBT. "I did nothing wrong. And I would not, still to this day, let them in my Facebook. And I don't think it's OK for an employer to ask you."

Arbitratiion is scheduled for next month, the TV station said.