SPLC

Editors of the Spoke, the newspaper at Conestoga High School in Berwyn, Pa., say the policy would implement administrative prior review and redefine the role of the newspaper advisers, essentially asking them to censor the student-produced publication at the discretion of school officials.

"We have such a strong responsibility to serve the students, teachers, administrators and all the community members, and we feel that's our charge," said Henry Rome, who was the paper's editor-in-chief until graduating in June. "That will be taken away if the policy is enacted."

As part of a scheduled review of several district policies, the Tredyffrin/Easttown School Board is suggesting a switch from the current 86-word statement on student publications to a seven-page policy. The policy states the adviser's role includes insuring no content published is "in poor taste as a reflection of the school and its student body" and allows the principal the "opportunity to review proof materials before publication."

Rome said he believes the new policy is in reaction to some of the Spoke's award-winning, but controversial, content over the past year.

In this year's final issue, Rome wrote a story about an elementary school janitor accused of two armed robberies. While other local media printed the basic facts, Rome spent months looking through public records, school timesheets and court records from several counties. Rome discovered the custodian had a criminal past, did not report his criminal charges to the district, and took vacation days to serve jail sentences.

Earlier in the 2008-09 school year, the Spoke published controversial stories including one on teen pregnancy and another on students who are openly gay or bi-sexual. Rome and current Spoke editor Seth Zweifler won the National High School Press Association's 2008 News Story of the Year for an investigative report on teen sports gambling.

Rome was named the Journalism Education Association's National High School Journalist of the Year in 2008. Both Rome and Zweifler are interning at professional newspapers this summer and have worked on the Spoke for their entire high school careers.

"I can guarantee that if this policy change is put into effect that the spoke will not be able to produce that quality of journalism," Rome said. "It would not be a quality publication. It would censor what we're doing."

Tredyffrin/Easttown Superintendent Daniel Waters confirmed the policy change was part of a scheduled review of district policies. He refused to comment further. Members of the Tredyffrin/Easttown school board could not be reached.

Zweifler said if the policy is enacted, it could cause a trend of self-censorship. For his part, he said the policy would be a "logistical nightmare." With prior review, an administrator would review the content several days before publication. If something was removed, Zweifler said he would be rushed to find an appropriate story to replace it.

"We frown greatly on prior review," Zweifler said. "I can say, with a great deal of certainty, that as the editor-in-chief for the upcoming year, I would definitely think twice when assigning a story that might be deemed controversial if there was a system of administrative prior review in place."

Zweifler calls the section of the proposed policy that defines the adviser's role a "double-edged sword," because it tasks them to teach students proper journalism but makes them pawns for censorship at the hands of school officials.

"So you're educating students by censoring them?" Zweifler asked. "That doesn't add up."

Rome and Zweifler have created a Web site calling for support from the community and past Spoke staffers. They recently met with a member of the school board who serves on the policy committee and are calling on local media to report the story.

"We know this is an example of censorship," Zweifler said. "We're just trying to spread the word to the community, which has been very supportive of the Spoke."

The district policy committee will discuss the policy at its next meeting on Aug. 20. After the committee approves a policy, the full board must hold two readings of the proposed document.

Spoke editors have contacted the Student Press Law Center for legal advice on several stories over the past year.

"Therefore, it is only natural that the SPLC is monitoring our current situation, because it appears that the school district is changing its policy as punishment for the same controversial stories that the SPLC assisted us with," Rome said.

Adam Goldstein, attorney advocate for the Student Press Law Center, said administrators should explain the rationale for implementing a new policy.

"When you have journalists who win this many awards, and stories that win this many awards, and administrators decide they need to change the program, it isn't too hard to figure out what they're trying to do," Goldstein said. "This is already arguably the best program in the nation, and they're going to throw it away because it exposed too many of their problems."

Rome, who will enroll at Princeton University in Princeton, N.J., to study journalism in the fall, said he will continue to fight against the policy changes to ensure future Spoke student journalists can report on important and controversial issues.

"They teach you in chemistry class the latest science and discoveries, and in math class, they teach you the procedures and formulas you need to know," Rome said. "But apparently they don't think the newspaper class should teach us how to be journalists."