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High school principal closes open-forum publication over sex survey
© 2006 Student Press Law Center
June 7, 2006
VIRGINIA — A sex
survey published in the student newspaper at Midlothian High School has led the
principal of that school to challenge the paper’s claim to open-forum
status.
The Trojan Times
reported in February the findings of a survey, conducted by the paper’s
staff, which asked students at each grade level to define some
relationship-related terms, as well as give their opinions on topics such as
casual sex and cheating.
The survey, which was taken anonymously,
included questions such as: “Is being intoxicated an excuse for
cheating?” “Who falls harder, boys or girls?” and “How
long do you believe in waiting before introducing sexual activity with your
partner?”
The newspaper’s sports editor, Caitlin Davis,
said the survey was meant to indirectly show flaws in the school’s
abstinence-based health curriculum, known as “family life,” and was
in no way meant to advocate sex.
“We wanted to give everyone a
wakeup call as to what was going on, because our family life program was not
working,” Davis said.
Tiffany Gibson, a graduating senior and
editor in chief of the paper, said they have not published an issue since
February, after Midlothian High School Principal Christine Wilson told her and
other staff members they had to change their editorial policy prior to
publishing again.
“We had our early-April issue ready to go and
then she said we have to change the policy before we print it,” Gibson
said. “We told her we didn’t want to and that’s when it all
started.”
Wilson deferred repeated requests for comment to
Michael Packer, an attorney with Chesterfield County Public
Schools.
Packer said that Wilson found the survey article
inappropriate because she felt many of the survey responses advocated casual sex
and underage alcohol consumption.
“I think that the survey
brought to the attention of the principal that the editorial policy, as written
in the paper, is different from the practice,” Packer said. “That is
what caused the principal to want to make the change in the written policy in
the paper.”
The paper’s written editorial policy, as of
February, states: “The Trojan
Times is an open forum for student expression and the discussion of
issues of concern to its audience.” It further states: “School
officials will not be responsible for the content of the publication;
consequently the Trojan Times will not
be reviewed, restrained or withheld from distribution by school
officials.”
In 1988, the U.S. Supreme Court handed down a
decision in Hazelwood School District v.
Kuhlmeier restricting high school students’ free press rights by
allowing certain circumstances under which a high school newspaper may be
censored.
In its decision, the Court ruled that if either “by
policy or by practice” a student paper has been opened as a forum for
student expression, and student editors have control over content, an
administrator’s ability to interfere with the newspaper is
limited.
Packer said the Trojan
Times was never an open forum to begin with, and therefore Wilson’s
decision is not changing policy, but rather updating the policy printed in the
newspaper to reflect the actual policy in practice.
“My
understanding is when the sponsor was concerned about a particular article, she
would bring it to the attention of the principal but did not do a review of
every article of every issue,” Packer said. “She felt the writing in
the paper should conform with past practices of reviewing
articles.”
Gibson, the newspaper’s editor, and adviser
Wendy Spanier each dispute Packer’s interpretation of the policy in
practice. They say the written policy does reflect what is being practiced and
that the newspaper is an open forum consistent with
Hazelwood.
Spanier described
the editorial policy, which she said has remained the same since she took the
job in 1999, as “autonomous,” saying the few times she approached
Wilson prior to a paper’s publication were not a matter of policy but,
“out of professional deference and when I felt she would be personally
affected.”
She stressed, however, that she never showed Wilson
an article prior to publication, nor did she ever pull an article at
Wilson’s request.
Although Spanier said she enjoys teaching
journalism, she said she will not advise the student newspaper next year. She
will, however, continue teaching English.
“I didn’t want
to give up teaching journalism, but under the circumstances I feel it would be
career suicide,” Spanier said.
Spanier said she could not
openly discuss the conditions that led her to such a conclusion. Packer said he
could not comment on personnel matters and referred any questions regarding
Spanier to her.
An open records request filed by
Trojan Times back-page editor Skyler
Pollard for “all documents regarding change in the editorial policy of the
Trojan Times ... issued by Mrs.
Wilson” resulted in the withholding of one document.
A similar
request for records by the Student Press Law Center is currently being
processed.
In the letter responding to Pollard’s request,
Wilson justifies withholding the document, saying, “it is a personnel
record containing information concerning identifiable
individuals.”
Gibson said she and the other students were
disappointed with Wilson’s decision to withhold the document and suspected
the withheld document held the answers to the motive behind the policy change,
or possibly a reason for Spanier’s stepping down as
adviser.
“It shocked us that they were withholding and trying
to protect something,” Gibson said.
Although both are
graduating on June 14, Gibson and Davis each said they are not going to leave
their dispute with Wilson unsettled. Both expressed interest in meeting with
Wilson as a staff to sort out their differences.
“We still
really want to have a meeting with her so we can talk with her back and
forth,” Gibson said. “We want to settle this outside of the courts
— that would be really messy.”
Packer said Wilson
“hopes to work it out with the newspaper staff,” and said he knows
she has talked to students individually. Gibson and Davis each said that Wilson
has never spoken to the class as a whole.
Gibson said that despite
the staff’s desire to keep the issue out of the courts, they are not
ruling out the legal option.
“[Wilson] has really blown it out
of proportion,” Gibson said. “So it might have to go that
far.”
—by A.J. Bauer,
SPLC staff writer
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