Children should be heard
This seems like a good idea. A high school in Columbus, Indiana has a school newspaper, and permits students to determine its contents. There is a school board election coming up, and the opinion editor at the paper went to a question and answer session with the candidates. The editor, Griffen Foster, contributed an opinion piece detailing his reactions to the candidates. All sounds pretty good so far. Students learning about writing, publishing, politics, the governing body of their school. But the candidates who did not get a good review called foul and tried to get the school to pull the paper. From the AP via the Indy Star:
The opinion piece in Columbus East High School’s student paper endorsed three school board candidates and criticized five others running for spots on the Bartholomew Consolidated School Corp. Board.
One current board member and two candidates say the column, written by 18-year-old Griffen Foster, the opinions editor at The Oracle, was insulting and illegal.
Board member Russell Barnard and candidate Paul Boaz have requested that the newspaper be removed from East High School on the basis that it is illegal, although experts and school officials have disagreed.
Doug Wilson, the husband of candidate Kathy Wilson, filed a formal complaint with school administrators requesting an apology and more faculty supervision over newspaper content.
“Children cannot be left free to humiliate people in print,” the complaint reads.
In the column, Foster criticized candidates for their responses during a recent public forum. He referred to Kate Brown’s performance as “completely without substance” and said Kathy Wilson’s answers were “circular and, at times, belligerent in response to innocuous questions.”
The school, to its credit, and despite the fact that some of the complainers might be heading the school soon, declined to take action. I think that Mark Goodman, executive director of the Student Press Law Center, had the response right:
“Anyone who believes students shouldn’t be expressing views shouldn’t be a school board member,” he said. “My guess is they wouldn’t have objected if they were the ones endorsed.”
