Are High School Romances Protected By The Constitution?

The ACLU claims that a Memphis, Tennessee high school principal, who posted the names of dating student couples in her school, opposite-sex and same-sex, violated the students' constitutional rights to equal protection, freedom of expression and association, due process and privacy. She even went so far as to call and tell the mother of one of the same-sex dating boys.

It seems to me that outing the kid to his mother was ok. Posting the list so the whole school knew about it was not. Although it is hard to believe that the principal knew more about "who is dating who" than the student body already did, you don't cavalierly reveal confidential information about minors to the whole world when you are in a position of trust and authority over them. I'll even go further. Adults do not gossip about children.

But a constitutional violation? It's a big stretch. This is a simple case of in loco parentis where the principal proved herself unworthy and untrustworthy to be in parentis.

Here you go kids: