{"id":540,"date":"2011-11-11T13:53:14","date_gmt":"2011-11-11T20:53:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/journalismthatmatters.org\/seattlejournalismcommons\/?p=540"},"modified":"2011-11-11T13:53:14","modified_gmt":"2011-11-11T20:53:14","slug":"seattle-student-press-rights-hanging-in-the-balance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/journalismthatmatters.org\/seattlejournalismcommons\/2011\/11\/11\/seattle-student-press-rights-hanging-in-the-balance\/","title":{"rendered":"Seattle student press rights hanging in the balance"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

Seattle area students and advisers meet Nov.8 to celebrate and discuss future plans.<\/p><\/div>\n

by John Bowen and Kathy Schrier from the Washington Journalism Education Association<\/a> to the Student Press Rights Commission blog<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Principals will not have a chance to prior review Seattle School District journalism students because the school board recently withdrew its proposed and controversial policy change.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs a former journalism teacher, it is important for me \u2014 as I know it is for our Board \u2014 that we uphold our practice of trusting our teachers to educate our students on the rights and responsibilities that come with freedom of expression and a free press,\u201d Interim Superintendent of Schools, Susan Enfield, a former journalism teacher and adviser, said in a press release.<\/p>\n

Supporters of the existing free expression policy will now have a year to convince the Seattle School District board to keep its hands off and continue to encourage students to make final decisions and have responsibility for content.<\/p>\n

During the first week of November as part of a system-wide policy overhaul, school officials announced they would seek to change a 2o-year policy of allowing students to make final decisions of content without prior review. The Washington State School Directors Association had recommended the new policy.<\/p>\n

Washington students, advisers, media groups and citizens mounted a public and active four-day campaign reporting about and speaking against the policy change.<\/p>\n

The press release indicated the school district would revisit the issue in 2012 to see how a policy change might fit with community values.<\/p>\n

Students and supporters met Nov. 8 to celebrate and plan<\/strong><\/p>\n

Student journalists from five of Seattle\u2019s high schools (Ballard, Garfield, Nathan Hale, Roosevelt and West Seattle) met Nov. 8 in the Nathan Hale journalism room to debrief following a promise by Seattle interim Superintendent Susan Enfield to leave unchanged the district\u2019s current student press rights policy. The meeting followed a four-day, whirlwind campaign to thwart the passage of Policy 3220, a controversial, restrictive student press policy.<\/p>\n

The students came together to celebrate the immediate victory, as well as to talk about how they must work together to make sure this doesn\u2019t happen in the future. The discussion focused on how the district policy-making process appears to be badly flawed, especially since some school board members seem to be ready to approve policies they haven\u2019t even read.<\/p>\n

Students plan to create a Facebook page and a website to keep in touch with each other, as well as to co-produce an article and possible insert about procedures used to decide policies in their school district. Students hope to run the piece in all their papers at about the same time. A coalition of Seattle student journalists is now in the works with plans to meet regularly.<\/p>\n

Applauded for their efforts in fighting back the passage of Policy 3220 were Katie Kennedy and Kate Clark, Ballard High School editors, who went on the attack with community flyers, letters to school board members and on-air interviews with local talk radio hosts. The group also applauded NPR reporter Phyllis Fletcher, KPLU-FM Seattle (who was in the room covering the meeting), for first discovering the proposed policy change and alerting Mike Hiestand of the Student Press Law Center, who in turn contacted the Washington Journalism Education Association.<\/p>\n

Fletcher shared how she discovered the information on the policy. She explained how, as part of her regular preparation for covering upcoming school board meetings, she looks at the agenda and tries to become familiar with the items for consideration. A red flag went up when she discovered the language in Policy 3220 under consideration.<\/p>\n

Clearly, her quick action made all the difference in preventing its passage.<\/p>\n

Garfield High School adviser Casey Henry shared with the group a late afternoon message to Seattle journalism advisers from Susan Enfield, in which she apologized for the \u201cconsternation\u201d caused by the whole ordeal and promised to make sure any future revisions to the scholastic press policy in Seattle will include input from media advisers.<\/p>\n

Students in the room added they should be included, as well, and intend to make that known to the superintendent and the board.<\/p>\n

This was a close call for student journalists in Seattle Schools, with lessons to be learned about staying vigilant. In fact, the students discussed creating a session for the 2012 National JEA\/NSPA Spring Convention in Seattle, a case study on four frantic days for student journalists and their supporters in Seattle that fortunately ended positively.<\/p>\n

Coverage from Seattle-area media<\/strong><\/p>\n

Announcing the proposed change
\n<\/strong>\u2022 Stop the presses, let the principal check them first
\nhttp:\/\/www.kuow.org\/program.php?id=25002
\n<\/a>\u2022 Seattle school board moves to censor student newspapers
\nhttp:\/\/blogs.seattleweekly.com\/dailyweekly\/2011\/11\/seattle_school_district_moves.php
\n<\/a>\u2022 Proposed Seattle school-newspaper policy raises censorship concerns http:\/\/seattletimes.nwsource.com\/html\/localnews\/2016707090_censorship07m.html
\n<\/a>\u2022 Students say Seattle school board threatens censorship
\nhttp:\/\/www.mapleleaflife.com\/2011\/11\/05\/students-say-seattle-school-board-threatens-censorship\/<\/a><\/p>\n

Announcing the withdrawal of the proposed changes<\/strong>
\n\u2022 Seattle public schools beats hasty retreat
\nhttp:\/\/blog.seattlepi.com\/seattlepolitics\/2011\/11\/07\/seattle-school-district-beats-hasty-retreat\/
\n<\/a>\u2022 Students say school board \u2018setting the stage for censorship\u2019
\nhttp:\/\/www.myballard.com\/2011\/11\/04\/students-say-school-board-setting-the-stage-for-censorship\/
\n<\/a>\u2022 Proposed \u2018censorship\u2019 policy for school newspaper withdrawn (Ballard High School)
\nhttp:\/\/www.myballard.com\/2011\/11\/07\/censorship-policy-proposal-for-school-newspapers-withdrawn\/
\n<\/a>\u2022 Ballard High newspaper editor-in-chief Kate Clark on her censorship fight with the Seattle school board
\nhttp:\/\/www.mynorthwest.com\/?nid=577&a=35563
\n<\/a>\u2022 School board withdraws controversial proposal: free speech maintained for students
\nhttp:\/\/my.hsj.org\/Schools\/Newspaper\/tabid\/100\/newspaperid\/4554\/view\/frontpage\/Default.aspx<\/a>
\n\u2022 Seattle public schools withdraws controversial student newspaper oversight proposal
\nhttp:\/\/today.seattletimes.com\/2011\/11\/seattle-public-schools-withdraws-controversial-student-newspaper-oversight-proposal\/
\n<\/a>\u2022 Schools back off on policing student papers
\n http:\/\/seattletimes.nwsource.com\/html\/localnews\/2016713513_censorship08m.html
\n<\/a>\u2022 KUOW-FM late afternoon story\/interview with Ballard editors Kate and Katie
\n<\/a>http:\/\/www.kuow.org\/mp3high\/m3u\/News\/20111108_PF_freepress.m3u
\n<\/a>\u2022 The Stranger
\n<\/a>http:\/\/www.thestranger.com\/seattle\/news-clash\/Content?oid=10654053<\/a> <\/a><\/p>\n

Other coverage
\n<\/strong>\u2022 How Seattle journalist got school censorship scoop
\nhttp:\/\/www.poynter.org\/latest-news\/als-morning-meeting\/152652\/how-seattle-journalist-got-school-censorship-scoop\/<\/a>
\n\u2022 Seattle school board pulls controversial publications proposal, will revisit in 2012
\nhttp:\/\/www.splc.org\/news\/newsflash.asp?id=2292
\n<\/a>\u2022 Seattle School District seeks to remove forum policy for prior review
\nhttp:\/\/www.jeasprc.org\/?p=4150
\n<\/a>\u2022 Seattle school board pulls controversial publications proposal, will revisit in 2012
\nhttp:\/\/www.jeasprc.org\/?p=4150<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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