Print
E-Mail
tool name
closeStudent newspapers fight prior restraint
Neil Pierson/of The Herald
Student reporters at the Puyallup School District’s three comprehensive high schools have formed an activist group to address what they call unfair policies of censorship and prior restraint of their publications.
In late April, the students formed Fight for the Right to Write, which is circulating a petition around the community urging school board members to meet with them and discuss two district policies about censorship of student newspapers.
Fight for the Right to Write is led by editors at three high schools: Rebecca Harris at Puyallup High, Allie Rickard and Amanda Wyma at Emerald Ridge and Megan Thompson at Rogers.
“Our staffs will rebuke valid ideas during brainstorming without even realizing they are self-censoring,” Thompson said in the release.
District Superintendent Tony Apostle sent a written response to the group last week and said the school board has no plans to change its current regulation that calls for prior review of school newspapers.
The policies came into being in October 2008 after the Emerald Ridge JagWire published a story about oral sex and used students’ names. The students later sued the district, claiming their privacy was violated, though they lost in a 10-2 jury vote last month.
Apostle went on to say that he would be willing to talk with the reporters if they would agree to have the publications assume financial responsibility for any legal claims brought against the district.
“I urge you and others to develop draft legislation for a comprehensive statewide effort that would be presented to the state legislature in which all school districts would be financially protected from lawsuits as a result of articles written by journalism students,” Apostle wrote.