A raft of new laws addressing crime and punishment took effect on Saturday, including a move widening a three-year-old North Carolina statute criminalizing cyberbullying to protect school employees.

The American Civil Liberties Union of North Carolina said the law may be the first of its kind in the country, and the organization said it will seek plaintiffs for a possible court challenge to change it, contending it threatens to chill students’ free speech rights.

The law threatens criminal penalties on students who use a computer with “the intent to intimidate or torment a school employee” by engaging in the same nasty online behavior that already makes it illegal to target a minor.