Dive Summary:

• On Dec. 1, the School Violence Prevention Act of 2012, an expansion of the North Carolina's anti-cyberbullying statute to cover the state's educators, went into effect.
• Under the law, students can now be reprimanded for numerous offenses including making statements that provoke stalking or harassment of teachers or school employees and building fake online profiles, with potential penalties including criminal charges, up to 60 days in jail and a $1,000 fine.
• The bill was sponsored by Republican state Senator Tommy Tucker on the behalf of the Classroom Teachers Association of North Carolina, but critics, including the North Carolina ACLU and Villanova University's Billie Murray, believe the penalties may be too strong and the law too vague.

From the article:

Under the School Violence Prevention Act of 2012, students will be reprimanded if they make any statement—true or false—that could provoke others to stalk or harass teachers or school employees. Students will also be severely punished if they target school administration by building a fake online profile or website, tamper with their online data or accounts, sign them up to a pornographic website or post private, personal, or sexual information. ...