Puyallup’s Fight for the Right to Write
by Fern Valentine
(Update: See related story.)
As many may remember, in 2008, the Puyallup School District, whose publications had been open forums for over 20 years, was sued over an article in the Jagwire, Emerald Ridge High School’s newspaper. The district immediately instituted prior review despite vocal protests at Board Meetings.
The district won the lawsuit last month and students at all three high schools decided to fight to get prior review revoked and new open forum policies instituted. Their advisers and principals had been instructed to remain hands off on any policy issues.
The four young editors formed a Facebook Group. They met with students and parents at the public library and asked for support. They were careful not to involve any school district employees. They asked the superintendent Dr. Tony Apostle and the School Board to meet with them to revise the restrictive policy.
The superintendent responded he was willing to meet with them and work to create an open forum policy so long as any policy instituted made it clear the district would have no liability for what is published in the school papers. He forwarded the letter to the local media so the editors decided to send out the following press release:
May 16, 2010
Controversy continues over censorship in Puyallup School District
Students organize movement to lobby school board to work collaboratively for revision of policy; press lawyer speaks out against censorship
PUYALLUP — Censorship of school newspapers in the Puyallup School District has led students to form an organization, Fight for the Right to Write, to change the restrictive district policy and regulation. Policy 3220 and Regulation 3220R give the district the powers of prior review and prior restraint over the content of the student newspapers.
On May 3, the students held a meeting at the Puyallup Public Library to inform the public of their cause and what they aim to accomplish. Currently, FFTRTW is rallying community support for their cause and asks supporters to sign their petition to urge to school board to schedule a collaborative meeting with the students.
The students sent emails to the PSD School Board Members and Superintendent Tony Apostle. They have since received a response from Apostle that expressed an openness to working with the students to craft a new policy. Apostle stated in his letter that the students must agree to the single condition that the student journalists and their parents assume financial liability for the content of the papers. This effectively means that the former liability standards of an open forum would be reinstated.
“We will all continue to practice responsible and ethical journalism regardless of any policies that include prior review,” Allie Rickard, Focus Editor of JagWire, said. “What we do want to make clear is that the quality of excellent student journalism that the PSD has been known for in the past cannot continue if the district insists on upholding 3220R and censoring content that does not violate the terms of the regulation. We simply want to be able to write and report on the news, on the truth, without the burden of review and censorship that Regulation 3220R has subjected us to.”
In the latest issue of JagWire, the student-run newsmagazine of Emerald Ridge High School, the most prominent story is only five words long: “This story has been censored.” The article that was supposed to appear in the paper covered the conclusion of the recent lawsuit, MRB vs Puyallup School District.
Allie Rickard, the reporter who wrote the article, decided to withhold the story from being printed after it was censored by Mike Patterson, the attorney hired to represent the district in the trial. This decision was reached following lengthy discussion and negotiation with principal Brian Lowney, JagWire advisor Kevin Smyth, editor Amanda Wyma and district Executive Director of Communications Karen Hansen.
“Patterson’s decision to censor multiple parts of my article was disheartening because it served to exemplify the illegalities the current policy and regulation attempt to vindicate,” Rickard said. “Endeavoring to report on an important event in a respectful, truthful, and well-researched manner should not have brought about this censorship.”
The content of the article that was censored was threefold. The plaintiffs’ names, a quote from Don Austin, attorney for the PSD, and a sentence explaining the meaning of a limited forum were all censored by Patterson.
Mike Hiestand, a lawyer for the Student Press Law Center — a nonprofit group near Washington, D.C. that provides legal help to student media — said that this censorship violates the First Amendment.
“Having government officials read a newspaper before it goes to press and then ordering the editor not to publish accurate, lawful, straightforward information disclosed during a public trial is precisely why we have a First Amendment,” Hiestand said. “We don’t want government officials (or their lawyers) dictating what they think we should and should not know.”
All three high schools in the PSD were informed by Hansen that their coverage of the trial would be prior reviewed by Patterson, instead of being reviewed by the principal of each respective high school, as is the customary practice under Regulation 3220R.
3220R was enacted shortly after the lawsuit was filed against the district. This regulation makes all student activity and expression within the district subject to prior review and restraint.
Since the adoption of 3220R in October 2008, the level of censorship has never reached the level now being experienced by student journalists this year. Four out of the six issues of JagWire have been censored to some extent from singular words to entire stories. The Viking Vanguard, of Puyallup High School, has faced censorship of one graphic and two articles and The Commoner, of Rogers High School, has yet to be censored.
All three papers have struggled to deal with increasing self-censorship from wary staff members.
“Self-censorship is the most detrimental force student journalists suffer from,” Megan Thompson, In-Depth Editor of The Commoner, said. “Our staffs will rebuke valid ideas during brainstorming without even realizing they are self-censoring.”
After the jury found in favor of the PSD in the lawsuit, student journalists began to discuss organizing a movement to work with the district to change 3220R. From this discussion, Fight for the Right to Write was born in late April.
“My adviser has always told us that we aren’t just ‘student journalists,’ we are professionals that just so happen to be students. I strongly believe that all of the PSD papers operate very professionally, so when we decided to fight the censorship that is putting a limit to our education, we decided to work as a team,” Rebecca Harris, Editor-in-Chief of The Viking Vanguard, said. “I called up everyone within a day of the jury’s decision.”
The recent censorship of Rickard’s article has served to reinforce to the students that now is the time to ask to school board to work with them to formulate a new policy since the current one has now been shown to be flawed.
“This latest occurrence of censorship within our publication has only reiterated why we have been and will continue to fight,” Wyma said. “Watching valuable and informative quotes and stories being stripped away from the paper and, ultimately out of the hands of our readership, is one of the most frustrating and unfortunate things to witness.”
For more information on the group, contact:
Allie Rickard
Focus Manager
JagWire, Emerald Ridge High School
ak_rickard@msn.com
Becca Harris
Editor in Chief
The Viking Vanguard, Puyallup High School
becca.k.harris@gmail.com
Megan Thompson
In-Depth Editor
The Commoner, Rogers High School
meganmthompson@live.com
Amanda Wyma
Editorial Board, A&E Editor
JagWire, Emerald Ridge High School
amandawyma@hotmail.com
Fight for the Right to Write
fightfortherighttowrite@gmail.com
www.fightfortherighttowrite.com – under construction
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