Throughout my time on staff, I have learned more about press law and how to handle first

amendment issues than I would have liked.

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Prior Review

My sophomore year I wrote a story about potential facility updates to the school,

something I did not find controversial. However before the story went to print my

principal requested prior review. This was not unheard of at my school but not necessarily

common. I was sure this was just to double check my facts which were all taken directly

from the district website.

 

I received the following email from my superintendent after sending my story for prior

review. The email requested that I remove all the quotes from the PE chairperson. Furthermore, the

superintendent emailed the chairperson asking that he send me new quotes without telling me.

He also sent my adviser rude emails about me. 

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I double-checked every fact in the story and went through his edits. All were deemed unnecessary by my adviser and me. My facts were accurate. I found his request to remove quotes to be unjustified as the only reason he did not want it to print was because it would make our school look bad. I decided to include the quote in my story.

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This attempt at censorship sparked my interest in student journalist rights and will forever be a driving force in my journalism career.

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Board Policy

 

Currently, we are working on a First Amendment issue that started in my junior year after the board created a policy requesting all surveys sent to students to be sent to parents for permission first.  We feel this is an infringement of our First Amendment rights of student to student communication. We have worked with SPLC and JEA to seek legal advice and create letters to send to our district. We have had several meetings with administration about it and are seeking a lawyer currently.  Click here to read our letter from the SPLC to our administration in support of our beliefs. This letter made no impact and our administration essentially dismissed it. Click here to read the district's response. 

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This issue inspired me as well as two other staff members to write a staff ed raising awareness to this issue. To read this staff ed, click here.

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Recently, on national Cure Hazelwood day, Jan. 31, I tweeted the editorial off our account with a message to the public. SPLC favorited the tweet and followed our account. It made 1,524 impressions and people interacted with it 172 times as of March 13. 

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Helping other student journalists

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My junior year I had the opportunity to present at the National Scholastic Press Conference in Indianapolis on first amendment issues and how to tackle them. My former Co Editor-in-Chief and I gave specific advice based on our past experiences. Additionally, we answered individual questions at the end of the session. We were so grateful for the opportunity to provide other journalists with the support we had received over the years. After our presentation, we were asked to be interviewed by SPLC's Active Voice project, which focuses on the censorship of female student journalists. 

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I am planning on creating a documentary about student journalist censorship for an upcoming scholarship project. When it is completed, I will update this portfolio to include it! My hope is that it can be used to help legislature get passed in states without New Voices or Anti-Hazelwood laws.