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Florida high school newspapers passed out with a hole
Principal forces staff to cut out article about poor minority test scores before distribution
© 2006 Student Press Law Center
October 27, 2006
Hillsborough High
School Principal William Orr asked staff members of the Red & Black
to stay after school and physically cut out the article in question from every
newspaper before distribution. The administration initially offered to pay the
cost of a reprint, but the staff decided that getting the paper out in a timely
manner was more important, and opted to remove the article.
Newspaper
adviser Joseph Humphrey said the staff’s first concern was getting the
paper published and distributed, adding, “the students rely on us.”
The article, which Orr was quoted in, showed the significant difference
between the white and black students’ reading scores on Florida’s
Comprehensive Assessment Test. The article reported that 69 percent of white
students passed the reading portion of the test while only 16 percent of the
black students passed. The students received the information, which is public
record, from the school.
Linda Cobbe, the school district’s manager
of external communication, said that Hillsborough High School is unique because
it combines the test scores from both the regular and advanced-placement
academic programs, which she said skews the scores.
The high school,
located outside of Tampa, Fla., has a population that is listed as 26 percent
white, 34 percent black, 31 percent Hispanic and 6 percent Asian.
Cobbe
said the principal felt that the article would make black students feel
inferior.
“He was thinking of the students and didn’t want
them to feel embarrassed,” Cobbe said.
Cobbe denied that the school
was keeping the student body from learning the information.
“Students have other means to seek the information on their
own,” Cobbe said.
The school also recently received a
“D” grade from the state’s education board.
In the
article, Orr is quoted as saying, “no ethnic group will be singled out and
scores need to be boosted, regardless of ethnicity, language or social
situation.”
Cobbe said this is the second time Orr has pulled an
article from a student newspaper because of its content. Ten years ago, as an
assistant principal, Orr censored an article from the school’s publication
because of what he called “vicious” content.
Cobbe said Orr
is “lenient” and “not hands-on” with the paper.
“Some principals demand review, but he doesn’t do
that,” Cobbe said.
After Orr gave the interview and the paper was
printed, he decided he did not want the article to run and called staff members,
Cobbe said.
Red & Black Editor in Chief Emily Matras said she
would not comment on the matter further, pointing to recent comments she made to
the St. Petersburg Times.
Matras, also the author of the censored
story, told the Times she understood the decision, but did not agree with
it.
Humphrey said the staff is handling the situation well while planning
the next issue and “trying to move on.”
By April Hale,
SPLC staff writer
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