Newspaper

fRoM pReseRvice to pRactice

adviSing a Student newSpaper

Sara Rodriguez couldn’t believe that she had been assigned to be the faculty adviser for the student newspaper. After all, she was just a beginning teacher. Sara had written for her high school and university student newspapers, but she had never been in charge of such a project. Now Sara found herself supervising and directing teenage students, some who were just three years her junior.

Sara, twenty-one, had recently graduated with an English major and journalism minor. She would be teaching English II and English III, and the student newspaper would be an extracurricular activity.

Bob Cartwright, the student editor, was a member of the senior class who was frequently outspoken about his beliefs and views. Just one month into the school year, all students attended a required assembly for an antidrug program. The next day, Bob came to her and said that he was going to write an editorial emphasizing student rights. He was tired of being forced to attend presentations when he had more important things to do with his time.

The next day Sara found this editorial written by Bob on her desk.

Student Rights Ignored!

Drug-free schools! Just say no!

Slogans without meaning were once again presented to an audience that was more knowledgeable about drugs than any of the presenters. Every year we have to submit to this inane practice. What a colossal waste of time and energy!

If the presenters were knowledgeable, they would already know that some drugs are being grown right on this very campus. This editor just says NO to more assemblies about drug-free schools. Students are encouraged to walk out should another of these so-called educational opportunities present itself as a requirement. Let’s stand up for our right to have a voice in determining what we must suffer. Write letters to this paper. Write to the principal and to the superintendent. Let them know what you think about this assembly and demand to have students involved in the planning process for all assemblies in the future. Sara decided she must respond quickly, yet she did not want to cause a problem where there was none. She wondered if this editorial would cause trouble and thought she had better seek assistance from the principal. Her English classes were going well, but she wondered if problems serving as student newspaper adviser and dealing with this situation and other similar situations might jeopardize her chances for tenure or a continuing contract.

CaSe QueStionS

1. What responsibilities and authority does Sara have as faculty adviser for the student newspaper? 2. What should Sara have determined before accepting such a position? 3. Should the student editor’s action affect her evaluation? 4. What rights and responsibilities does the student newspaper editor have?

sometimes happen in the classroom or make use of school equipment or resources. Regarding all these types of activities, there is tension between students’ rights to free speech and expression, and educators’ duty to protect and enhance the welfare of students and staff.

cyberbullying Cyberbullying involves the use of electronic means to torment, threaten, harass, humiliate, embarrass, or otherwise target another person. The consequences of cyberbullying have been of growing concern as individuals, particularly young people, seem to be frequently using their electronic devices to transmit materials that can be perceived as harmful or damaging to others’ status, health, or reputation. In several incidents that were highly publicized in the mass media, children and youth who perceived themselves as targets or who were victims of such materials suffered damaging mental- and physical health effects; some even killed themselves. School officials generally have been reluctant to punish the originators or transmitters

of cyberbullying materials, partly because doing so might be viewed as exposing their institutions to legal liability for violating students’ free speech.29

In a few cases, however, schools have taken action against alleged cyberbullies, and then have been taken to court for doing so. In a California case, for example, an eighth-grade girl reported that a classmate had posted a YouTube video calling her a “brat” and a “slut.” The classmate was suspended for two days, after which her family sued the district for violation of free-expression rights. The presiding federal judge said that to allow a school to suspend a student “simply because another student takes offense to their speech, without any evidence that such speech caused a substantial disruption of the school’s activities, runs afoul of the law,” and ruled against the district. Fortunately, such restrictions do not prevent schools from implementing comprehensive policies to help students understand and avoid the negative consequences of cyberbullying, and many districts are introducing such policies.30

Changing definitions of bullying and cyberbullying may be raising issues and problems for educators more frequently than in the past. Several analysts believe a tendency is emerging to define even small acts of hostility and social exclusion as examples of bullying. For example, some children have been accused of bullying for not inviting others to their birthday parties or for indicating dislike of particular classmates. Continuation or magnification of such a trend may make life more difficult for teachers and administrators.

disparagement of school or staff Some students have been punished for sending e-mail or other material that school officials considered disparaging of the school or staff, to the extent that the material was potentially disruptive or destructive. Such punishment may be legal even if the computers involved are off school property. However, electronic materials that might fit in these categories have the same legal standing as printed documents, which may require finding a delicate balance between legally protected individual rights on the one hand and prohibitions on harming individuals and institutions on the other. Incidents that have gone to court include the following: ● An Ohio school district had to pay $30,000 to a high school student after it lost a court case in which he challenged his suspension for posting material that ridiculed his band teacher. ● A Florida school district had to pay monetary damages to a student it had suspended for posting negative material about a teacher on Facebook. ● The Third Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that two students who created Myspace profiles ridiculing their principals were protected by the First Amendment in the absence of disruptive effects within the schools. ● A US district court judge ruled against a Vermont district that had banned a critic from school property because district officials alleged that staff members were afraid of him.

On the other hand, some courts have upheld school officials who punished students for distributing derogatory cell-phone videos of teachers, and some judges have

29Richard S. Vacca, “Student Expression and Electronic Communication,” CEPI Education Law Newsletter (April 2007), available at www.cepi.vcu.edu/publications/newsletters; Amy Williams, “What Bullying Looks Like in the Digital Age and How to Prevent It,” Edutopia (October 23, 2014), available at www.edutopia.org; and Lauren C. Williams, “Why Illinois Schools Are Requiring Students to Hand Over Their Facebook Passwords,” January 22, 2015, posting by Think Progress, available at www.thinkprogress.org. 30Kenneth S. Trump, “Managing Bullying in Politically Charged Climates,” District Administration (January 2011), available at www.districtadministration.com; Nancy Willard, “What Are You Doing to Prevent Bullying?” District Administration (September 2014), available at www .districtadministration.com; “Bullying Prevention,” 2015 posting by the Children’s Safety Network, available at www.childrenssafetynetwork.org; and information available from the Cyberbullying Research Center at www.cyberbullying.us.

Children’s Internet Protection

Act (CIPA) An act providing that schools and libraries receive discounts on electronic equipment and media and are required to install a “technology protection measure” preventing minors from using computers to access “visual depictions that are obscene, child pornography, or harmful to minors.” allowed administrators to ban the use of cell phones in classrooms, provided evidence was presented concerning the negative effects on discipline or morale.31

gaining access to prohibited Materials Since the Children’s Internet Protection

Act (CIPA) went into effect in 2001, schools and libraries receiving discounts on electronic equipment and media have been required to install “a technology protection measure” that prevents minors from using computers with Internet capabilities to access “visual depictions that are obscene, child pornography, or harmful to minors.” After CIPA was challenged in court, the US Supreme Court ruled that the law is a constitutional condition imposed on institutions in exchange for government funding. But the Court also said institutions must adopt a policy for unblocking the Internet for adults, without requiring the user to offer reasons for disabling the filter. However, CIPA requirements sometimes have been interpreted by school officials and the public as virtually prohibiting all access to YouTube and other sites that offer some prohibited material. Thus classroom use of YouTube and similar sites frequently has been viewed as unacceptable. The US Department of Education provides the following guidance to help teachers handle YouTube and other sites while complying with CIPA:32 ● Accessing YouTube does not necessarily violate CIPA. ● Websites blocked for students are not always denied to teachers for use in school. ● “Brute force technologies” that shut down wide swaths of the Web, such as all of

YouTube, are not required.

sexting brouhahas Sexting frequently is defined as the act of using a smartphone or comparable electronic device to transmit sexually explicit images of oneself to individuals known to or in contact with the sender. A growing number of jurisdictions have been passing laws against sexting, generally raising child pornography charges if the sender or recipient is not yet an adult. Depending on the jurisdiction, sexters or transmitters of the images can be charged with either misdemeanors or felonies and can receive significant fines or jail sentences.

In some jurisdictions, sext messages have been circulated very widely and indiscriminately among young people, and sometimes have served to embarrass and/or intimidate subjects of the images and/or others who circulated them. In these situations, police and other government officials have been torn between assertive punishment to inhibit sexting and reluctance to prosecute sexting participants as child pornographers and thereby punish them with a label to follow them the remainder of their lives.

Because sext messages can be sent easily to numerous classmates and acquaintances and sometimes can create conflicts as well as damage reputations and social relationships, educators have become increasingly concerned with this type of behavior among their students. Some districts have introduced courses or other learning activities to inform students of the negatives and dangers involved in sexting. In general, school officials concerned with sexting should follow legal principles and guidelines described elsewhere in this chapter with respect to search (for example, of cell phones), discipline, and harassment.33

This chapter’s Technology @ School feature offers more information on legal issues involved with student computer use.

31Michael D. Simpson, “No More Classroom Paparazzi,” NEA Today (October 2008); and Daniel Marcus-Toll, “Tinker Gone Viral,” Fordham Law Review (May 2014), available at www .fordhamlawreview.org. 32Tina Barseghian, “Straight from the DOE,” Mind/Shift (April 26, 2011); and “Children’s Internet Protection Act,” 2014 posting by the Federal Communications Commission, available at www .fcc.gov. 33Zara Kessler, “First Sex and Then Sexting and Now Sext Education,” Standard Examiner (October 23, 2014), available at www.standard.net; and Hanna Rosin, “Why Kids Text,” Atlantic (November 2014), available at www.theatlanic.com.