By all accounts, Reid Sagehorn is the kind of student everyone looks up to – an honor roll student, captain of the football and basketball team at Rogers High School. And he’s been suspended from school until April 22 over a misguided Tweet on an unofficial, anonymous school gossip site.

Even worse, he could be facing a felony charge for his supposedly satirical comment on the website, in which he said “Actually, yes,” in response to a post that he was seen kissing a young female phy-ed teacher at the school.

That kind of joking around could get a teacher in serious trouble, could get her fired, could ruin her reputation and make her unemployable elsewhere.

The student who originally posted the rumor on the anonymous site has also been identified and could be facing charges, too.

Good.

This is an object lesson for young Sagehorn and his pals. What you say, especially on the Internet, can cause real, lasting damage.

Anyone who thinks it is OK?to create these sites where people can brag about real or imagined sexual conquests, insult and trash other people and post harmful statements about anyone, without having to reveal their own identities, is a coward. This shows that the world of social media really needs to develop a code of ethics and accountability.

This is a tough lesson for the student, but an important one.

He should start showing he is learning the lesson by accepting his lumps and offering a full, public apology to the teacher, preferably in front of an assembly of the whole school.