High school journalists ordered to print administration-approved newspaper Administrators at Stevenson High School require student newspaper to distri

Scott Hoover

November 25, 2009

Joanna Brenner, SPLC staff write, reported that the staff of the student newspaper at Stevenson High School in Lincolnshire, Ill were told that their next newspaper had to be composed of administration approved content. The issue will be made-up of absent stories that were initially supposed to be in the Nov. 20 issue but where removed do to the administration.
The administration threatened the student, telling them that their grades were dependent on the issue’s distribution. The staff looks to remove their byline from the published stories as a sign of protest and to include an editors’ note explaining the circumstances under which authority the newspaper was published. However, the administration denied the students of both requests.
The administration refused the newspaper to print the Nov. 20 issue do to their objection over content. Editor-in-Chief Pamela Selman submitted the issue for prior review that included a front-page article discussing the school's substance-abuse contracts, for which the reporter and editor granted sources anonymously.

Selman said that the number of student leaders who have broken the contract -- meaning they have used drugs or alcohol -- appears to have greatly increased, making it a newsworthy topic, but also a topic students would be hesitant to speak about unless they remained nameless. According to the students, the head of the Communications Arts program at Stevenson told newspaper staff members if they laid out the paper with the story, administrators would remove it during prior review and require staff members to reveal the names of the anonymous sources.

"We are dealing with a school administration that is completely out of control and is clearly willing to stoop to anything to shut down independent journalism," said Frank LoMonte, executive director of the Student Press Law Center.

LoMonte later stated that the administrators' actions show a willingness to jeopardize the students' chances to attend college.

The frustration factor that surrounds this subject is overwhelming and sickening. Student publications face these difficult problems everyday. Fortunately, the publication I am apart of doesn’t consider the topic about “will this upset the administration” rather we focus on content, newsworthy events and modern subjects that are relevant to our school. Prominent contemporary articles, even if controversial, is newsworthy content.
The administration, though the governing body of the school, doesn’t have complete control of its students. Lomonte said that this is nothing but a power game of administrators trying to 'show the kids whose boss. But what they are about to learn is that they don't own this school, the public does, and the public will not tolerate the government telling people what they can and can't say.
It’s a shame to realize that the administration is censoring a newsworthy event, a good paper and regulating their student’s freedom of speech. High school publications are important to the chemistry of the school. Keeping relevance to student’s daily lives, through the text of the paper, gives order to the administration.