Yes. Comparing the two situations I shared, the legalities are also the issue. My son did nothing illegal, so there weren't any lawyers or police involved. I could have hired a lawyer, I assume, but my kid deserved some punishment and he wasn't going to lose a D1 scholarship or anything. Also, the publicity would have probably been more awful. Nobody wants kids making jokes about rape. Here's something about the local kid charged with rape. It's an opinion piece, but it has the quote from the district explaining why the kid was allowed to play.
Dori: Hoquiam School District needs to get tough on football player charged with rape - The Dori Monson Show - MyNorthwest.com Their lawyers knew that legally he's only been accused and advised them to let him play. It's really bizarre. The thing with the party punishments, too, I've found to be accurate. We had 41 kids get busted locally for being at a party on Halloween. Someone had pictures. How pictures PROVE wrongdoing, I'm not sure. It's a little scary. Twitter more so, though. Someone could grab your phone post something and you're busted. I was told that, because athletics are a privilege, they can basically punish whatever action they want. Our district social media police basically says "you can get athletic suspension for social media postings." Although, in middle school, my son was threatened by a classmate on social media and the district's hands were tied because the threat wasn't made on a school computer. *shrug* I'm glad I'm nearing the end of child rearing.