High School censorship sparks debate

Kalen Ponche
Suburban Journals
Town and Country, Mo.

October 25, 2009

Students on the newspaper staff at Timberland High School are struggling to figure out what they can write about after principal Winston Rogers pulled a page of the Oct. 9 edition before it went to press.

The page included a story about the health risks associated with getting tattoos, a story about the reasons students get tattoos and photos of students who have tattoos.

Click here to see the page.

"The reason we chose to cover tattoos, it's a hot topic right now," said 17-year-old Nikki McGee, who is the co-editor-in-chief of the Wolf's Howl student newspaper. "It's such a growing trend of 2009 and it's something that needs to be covered."

McGee said Rogers saw a preview of the paper the day before it was pulled from publication. He asked the students to add information to one story showing how employers might feel about tattoos. The students also added a disclaimer at the bottom of a story stating that students must be 18 years old to get tattoos by themselves.

Although the changes were made, Rogers pulled the entire page the next morning. The students filled it with photos taken at homecoming.

Rogers said he changed his mind about the page after he scrutinized the content and did additional research.

"I realized that, because of the age requirement on it, that it was probably inappropriate for our students," said Rogers, who is in his first year as principal at the high school. "The majority of our students are not old enough to get tattoos by themselves. We don't advertise cigarettes. We don't advertise alcohol."

State law allows people who are 16 and older to get tattoos with a parent's permission. Otherwise, the legal age for ink is 18. Two advertisements from tattoo parlors were published in the first two issues of the paper but will not be allowed to run in future editions, Rogers said.

McGee said Rogers didn't offer an explanation for the reasons he censored the stories until students reminded him of a 1980s Supreme Court ruling that requires administrators to justify censoring student newspapers.

That 1988 case, Hazelwood School District v. Kuhlmeier, gave high school officials the ability to censor student publications that are sponsored by the school, according to the Student Press Law Center. The law requires principals to give a valid educational reason for censoring stories.

Jean Maneke, a Kansas City-based attorney specializing in media law, said the Hazelwood case gives administrators the right to make decisions about content because the courts view high school officials like publishers.

Maneke said that comparison is appropriate.

"At the same time, I'm always for student journalists being part of the decisions that were made as part of their publications," Maneke said. "They need to learn and they need to understand the implications of what they do."

Under the Wentzville School District's student publications policy and regulations, students are expected to write objectively, research their stories thoroughly and cover material that is important, significant and of interest to the majority of readers. (Check out the policy here)

Under the policy, principals may stop distribution of materials that could cause "substantial and material disruption or obstruction of any lawful mission, process or function of the school."

Last fall, a former principal of Timberland High School stopped publication of a pro-life advertisement that a student had sold to a church. Melody Marcantonio, the district's assistant superintendent of student services, said a simple ad from the church could have run, but the pro-life ad was pulled because it was a political issue.

After that, the principal started reviewing the papers before publication, McGee said. Over the summer, administrators met with student leaders to review the expectations for student publications.

"Last year we said, 'Let's get together every summer and talk through the policy and regulations,'" she said. "Students were asking some questions. I got the sense they understood the big picture."

It's important that students write for the audience and community to which they belong, she said. Marcantonio said during her four years in the district, the Wolf's Howl has tended not to meet the expectations of the district.

"Each year I've been here there have been some concerns over things that run," she said. "It's a school paper. They should be covering some tough topics. It's how they do it that's important."

For instance, the students could find a different way to cover the issue of tattoos that would be appropriate, she said. The role of the adviser is to meet with students early to help them determine a way to approach the topic, she said.

Wolf's Howl adviser Cathy McCandless said she has spoken with Rogers and is aware of his concerns.

"I am certain we'll be able to move forward in this situation for the sake of the students," she said. She declined to comment further.

The censorship has left McGee and other students on the staff unsure about which topics will be allowed in the paper.

Three years ago, the paper ran several articles about tattoos without any problems from the principal, McGee said. Staff members have considered writing about the fact that a page was pulled from the paper, she said.

"We had a brainstorming session," McGee said. "We're censoring ourselves. After so many topics, we said, 'What's the principal going to think about that?"

Having those types of discussions, Rogers said, is not necessarily a bad thing.

Copyright 2009, Suburban Journals. Reprinted with permission.