Wednesday, January 17, 2007
Student paper policy not followed
by Mena El-Sharkawi
The Facts
Published: 1/14/2007
Excerpt:
The decision not to distribute Danbury High School's
student newspaper last month was not entirely because it was laden with
sexually themed content, but because district policy requiring the
content be reviewed by the school's principal beforehand was not
followed, officials say. ...... "We
determined that the campus principal had not reviewed the campus
newspaper, so we conferred with the teacher, the campus principal and
some other district administrators and made the decision not to allow
the full distribution of that edition of the student newspaper,"
Superintendent Eric Grimmett said. ...... The newspaper contained articles written by Danbury
High School students about the consequences of teenage sexual activity,
sexually transmitted diseases and teenage parenting, and editorials
making pro-choice and pro-life arguments, said journalism teacher
Kristi Piper.Grimmett said district officials also objected to
some of the content, believing it did not reflect the ideals and
expectations of the district's taxpayers. ...... Kelly McBride, an ethics group leader at the Poynter
Institute, a school for journalists, future journalists and teachers of
journalism based in St. Petersburg, Fla., said she understands why
schools might censor sensitive issues. However, she said she believes
censoring publications is one of the least democratic ways to handle
the situation."My biggest problem with it is the unintended
consequences," McBride said. "They're not grooming students to grow up
and take responsibly their First Amendment rights that they will
inherit the moment they turn 18 and leave the school system."
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