When Ian Chen, a rising junior at Richard Montgomery High School in Rockville, Md., caught wind of a new policy proposed in his school county, it immediately struck him as absurd.
“The memo contradicted everything I had been learning in journalism class,” Chen said. “There are laws, especially here in Maryland, that protect [student journalists].”
The policy described in a memorandum circulated on March 19 by Dr. Peter Moran, chief of Montgomery County Public Schools, instructs administrators to review every student publication and all school-related printed materials before publishing.
“While student editors and publication advisors engage in the initial rounds of editing, a school administrator must review the final draft of any printed items (publications, clothing, etc.) before printing or publication,” Moran writes in the memo, obtained by the Student Press Law Center, a non-profit organization dedicated to protecting press freedom rights for student journalists.
Ironically, Maryland is among 18 states with New Voices legislation protecting student press freedom. Signed in April 2016 by former Governor Larry Hogan, the Maryland New Voices Act ensures student journalists have final authority over school-sponsored media content. Moran’s memo threatens this legal precedent, students and faculty advisers from all 25 MCPS schools argue in an open letter and online petition that’s collected nearly 800 signatures in support.
“There are a lot of important stories we published in the past that, under this new policy, could certainly be subject to prior restraint and not even published,” said Seva Gandhi, a rising senior and the online editor-in-chief of The Black and White, the student publication at Walt Whitman High School in Bethesda, Md.
Historically, The Black and White has reported on sensitive issues like drug abuse, racism, and sexual assault within the halls of Walt Whitman High School, including stories that hinged on the words of anonymous whistleblowers. Administrators are now also responsible for checking “language that implies wrongdoing without verification,” meaning stories that include information from anonymous sources are most likely to be flagged.
“We have a very intensive editing process, so we’re not in any circumstance going to publish something that could be potentially inappropriate,” Annabel Taylor, a rising senior and print editor-in-chief of The Black and White, said.
In response to the district’s memo, The Black and White wrote their own open letter to the Montgomery County Board of Education. Chen, an editor of his own school’s newspaper, The Tide, spearheaded a separate countywide open letter signed by more than 160 student journalists and faculty members.
The letter, a collaborative effort between MCPS student journalists and their advisers, outlines what Maryland law states, what the students and staff are asking for, and why their cause matters.
“We cover the breaking news in our communities, report on administrative and policy decisions that impact thousands of students, and often produce the first public record of what happens inside schools,” the letter says.
The letter critiques Moran’s memo for its vague language, which creates “an inconsistent patchwork of enforcement, where student journalists’ rights depend on which principal happens to review their work.”
According to a statement from MCPS Superintendent Thomas Taylor, the district has had cases where “inappropriate content” was printed in school yearbooks and other publications, “resulting in substantial disruption to school operations and community hurt,” hence the new policy.
Taylor’s statement refers to the students’ concerns about censoring as “misperceptions about the role of school leadership in supervising student publications” and states that nothing in the memo impedes student journalism or imposes prior restraint. (Taylor’s statement was published directly on Change.org through its Community Connection Team, which seeks engagement from “decision makers” involved in petitions. Neither the superintendent nor the chief of schools has responded to the Institute’s requests for comment.)
“We believe it’s shamelessly false, and I think several national press rights organizations agree with us,” Chen said in response to Taylor’s claims. The students’ cause and their petition are also endorsed by multiple candidates for the Board of Education District 3.
On June 25, Chen attended the MCPS Board of Education meeting to voice his and his peers’ concerns further.
“The response we received was rather disappointing, and essentially repeated what they’ve been saying previously,” Chen said. For next steps, Chen is working with the Student Press Law Center, the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, and the Journalism Education Association.
Despite the disheartening reaction from the MCPS Board of Education, Jonathan Falk, a staff attorney from the Student Press Law Center, believes in the power of self-advocacy by student journalists.
“This student advisory document sends a cold and blithe message that the passage of a law honoring student press freedom means very little in [administrators’] eyes,” Falk said. “These students are therefore doing the right thing and taking the district to task to implement the intent of the legislature appropriately.”
The student journalists the Institute spoke to have not yet felt the effects of this policy in their schools, as the policy’s enforcement varies by administrator. Their concern is for the policy’s potential and how it could be interpreted and enforced.
“Student journalism is kind of a microcosm of what’s going on at a national scale, and when we’re seeing students be censored, it sets a precedent for other publications,” said Gandhi, The Black and White’s online editor. “We’re uniquely situated to report on things other publications can’t, and this policy threatens the core of what student journalism is all about: holding people accountable.”
Tags: press freedom, student journalism