Close to home

Today I read an article from the Chicago Tribune about a high school newspaper adviser resigning after the school placed stricter measures on the newspaper.  The adviser Barbara Thill will continue to teach at Stevenson High School in Lincolnshire but won’t work with the newspaper anymore.  After a January issue of the newspaper “The Statesmen”  which focused on teenage sex life, administrators at the school now monitor the paper before it is published. 

  I understand that high school papers fall under the jurisdiction of the school district, who in many cases do impose censorship to a certain degree, but I will never be comfortable with the idea.  Public schools are an arm of the government, but if the government isn’t allowed to censor nespapers (at least for the most part) then why should the high schools?  

In one case, after waiting four years the Ithacan high school newspaper (New York) will finally go to trial this May regarding administration guidelines restricting publication.  Maybe now the students will get the chance to say what they want and people like Thill won’t have to resign.

High School newsaper gone?

The student newspaper was the topic of discussion at a recent school board meeting for Stevenson High School parents. The newspaper had stories involving teenage drinking, sex and drugs. The parents were not mad about the stories or topics, they were mad all the copies were picked up and out of circulation. The school denies taking the copies of the newspaper and censoring the newspaper so others could not see it.