Law & Courts

Pa. Board Mulls Tighter Reins On Student Press

By Rhea R. Borja — January 16, 2002 4 min read
  • Save to favorites
  • Print

The free-speech rights of student journalists in Pennsylvania may be seriously reduced if proposed changes to the state education code pass, some school newspaper advisers and the state press association say.

The state board of education in April quietly proposed changes to the code’s “freedom of expression” section, cutting it from 26 paragraphs to four. The revisions, if approved by the legislature, would give school leaders broader power over what school newspapers publish. A board of education ad hoc committee is reviewing that section and expected to issue its final recommendations later this year.

“The state is opening the door to more censorship,” said John Doyle, the newspaper adviser at Norristown Area High School. “For some schools, it could be devastating.”

Of special concern to student-press advocates is the deletion of the word “immediate” in the regulation stating students cannot publish material that “threatens immediate harm to the welfare of the school or community.” The change would let school leaders indefinitely bar students from publishing stories or photos, said George Taylor, the executive director of the Pennsylvania School Press Association.

Another point of contention is a sentence in the broad guidelines stating students can’t print material that is “vulgar, lewd, obscene, or plainly offensive.” Mr. Taylor argued that such language was so broad that administrators could apply that standard to exclude anything.

“The current guidelines spell out very explicitly what’s expected on both sides. It’s replaced by something that’s downright vague,” he added. “It’s a misnomer to label this section ‘Students Rights and Responsibilities’ because they aren’t there anymore.”

The organization has written a letter to the state board urging it to withdraw the proposed changes. Mr. Taylor said that his group promotes responsible student journalism. “Kids should be protected by the same rules as professional journalists, and therefore should behave in a professional manner,” he said. “It’s not carte blanche in whatever you want to say.”

Updating Policy

The revisions would drop Pennsylvania from the short list of states with statutes or regulations specifically protecting freedom of expression in the student press. The other states are Arkansas, California, Colorado, Iowa, Kansas, Massachusetts, and Washington, according to the national Student Press Law Center in Arlington, Va. The Pennsylvania board proposed the changes because members believe that section of the code needs to be brought “more in line” with court rulings bolstering school administrators’ authority over student newspapers, said Jeff McCloud, the spokesman for the state board of education.

“This has not been updated in many years,” he said of Chapter 12 of the state code. Mr. McCloud noted that the proposed revisions deal not just with free expression, but with all the regulations in that chapter, which covers subjects ranging from the Pledge of Allegiance to corporal punishment. He also stressed that the board welcomes public comment, and that the proposed new regulations “are by no means set in stone.”

The main U.S. Supreme Court ruling on the freedom of the student media was in Hazelwood v. Kuhlmeier in 1988. In that case, the court ruled that school newspapers were an extension of the curriculum and not a public forum. Thus, school administrators may change or delete anything from the school newspaper as long as the material is education-related—a definition that lends itself to broad interpretations, observers say. Stephen Turner, a senior and the editor in chief of Norristown High’s newspaper, said the changes would punish student journalists for doing their jobs.

“Kids will be scared to cover certain stories or to write the whole truth if they think they’re going to get in trouble for it,” he said.

When asked about student journalists’ concerns about the proposed changes, Mr. McCloud said, “Students will experience a bit of the real world. Every reporter has an editor and a publisher, and if they say, ‘You can’t run this,’ then you can’t.

“The Supreme Court ruling has given some latitude to administrators, and they’re the publishers of school papers.”

Mark Goodman, the executive director of the Student Press Law Center, rejects comparisons of public schools’ authority to that of private publishers. Since public schools are government entities, he argues, they don’t have the same rights as private publishers and must be more open to viewpoints.

“They’re not the same,” he said. “That’s the simple reason why the First Amendment was put there in the first place.”

Pennsylvania’s proposed changes are also troubling because they don’t focus on education, said Mr. Goodman, who worries that other states may follow suit. “It sounds like a policy change being drafted by lawyers, not educators,” he said. “They’re not thinking through what they should be teaching, but instead what they can legally get away with.”

Related Tags:

A version of this article appeared in the January 16, 2002 edition of Education Week as Pa. Board Mulls Tighter Reins On Student Press

Events

Teaching Profession K-12 Essentials Forum New Insights Into the Teaching Profession
Join this free virtual event to get exclusive insights from Education Week's State of Teaching project.
Jobs Virtual Career Fair for Teachers and K-12 Staff
Find teaching jobs and K-12 education jubs at the EdWeek Top School Jobs virtual career fair.
Mathematics K-12 Essentials Forum Helping Students Succeed in Math

EdWeek Top School Jobs

Teacher Jobs
Search over ten thousand teaching jobs nationwide — elementary, middle, high school and more.
View Jobs
Principal Jobs
Find hundreds of jobs for principals, assistant principals, and other school leadership roles.
View Jobs
Administrator Jobs
Over a thousand district-level jobs: superintendents, directors, more.
View Jobs
Support Staff Jobs
Search thousands of jobs, from paraprofessionals to counselors and more.
View Jobs

Read Next

Law & Courts Federal Appeals Court Upholds Block on Louisiana Ten Commandments Display Law
Louisiana's law requiring the Ten Commandments in every classroom likely violates the First Amendment, a federal appeals court ruled.
3 min read
Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry speaks alongside Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill during a press conference regarding the Ten Commandments in schools Monday, Aug. 5, 2024, in Baton Rouge, La. Murrill announced on Monday that she is filing a brief in federal court asking a judge to dismiss a lawsuit seeking to overturn the state’s new law requiring that the Ten Commandments be displayed in every public school classroom.
Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry speaks alongside Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill during a press conference on a law requiring the Ten Commandments be displayed in schools on Aug. 5, 2024, in Baton Rouge, La. A federal appeals court on June 20 upheld an injunction blocking the law from taking effect.
Hilary Scheinuk/The Advocate via AP
Law & Courts Court Again Tells Trump Admin. to Restore Laid-Off Ed. Dept. Staffers
The judge was ruling in a case that challenged staff cuts and office closures at the Education Department's office for civil rights
5 min read
Demonstrators gather to protest outside of the offices of the U.S. Department of Education in Washington on March 21, 2025 after President Trump signed an executive order to shut down the government agency.
Demonstrators gather to protest outside of the offices of the U.S. Department of Education in Washington on March 21, 2025, after President Donald Trump signed an executive order aiming to shut down the government agency. A federal judge on Wednesday ordered the Trump administration to restore staffers to the department's office for civil rights, which enforces anti-discrimination laws in the nation's schools.
Bryan Dozier/NurPhoto via AP
Law & Courts Supreme Court Ruling May Redefine Transgender Rights in Schools
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in a case about puberty blockers and hormone treatments that holds implications for transgender students.
6 min read
Nate, 14, left, and Bird, 9, right, whose parents asked not to use their last names, hold signs and transgender pride flags as supporters of transgender rights rally by the Supreme Court on Dec. 4, 2024, in Washington.
Nate, 14, left, and Bird, 9, right, whose parents asked not to use their last names, hold signs and transgender pride flags as supporters of transgender rights rally by the Supreme Court on Dec. 4, 2024, in Washington. The high court on June 18, 2025, upheld a Tennessee law banning certain gender-transition treatments for minors.
Jacquelyn Martin/AP
Law & Courts Supreme Court Decision Lets Students Sue Schools More Easily for Disability Bias
The justices ruled unanimously that students with disabilities need not meet a more stringent standard when suing under two federal laws.
5 min read
The Tharpe family, pictured outside the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington, D.C., on April 28, 2025.
The Tharpe family, pictured outside the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington, D.C., on April 28, 2025.
Mark Walsh/Education Week