The Latest – Page 76

Guidelines, recommendations for advisers facing prior review

Based on an increase in the number of of prior review incidents and administrative attacks on advisers, we are reposting this information. At the spring 2010 Portland JEA/NSPA convention, JEA’s board passed a definition of prior review and prior restraint. The SPLC also recently endorsed the statement. At the time, the Press Right Commission was directed…

Scholastic Press Rights

The JEA Scholastic Press Rights Commission walks hand in hand with scholastic journalists and their advisers to promote First Amendment rights.

A lesson on truth and obligation in journalism

As a teacher, I know how valuable it is to exchange ideas with colleagues about what works in the classroom and what does not. To that end, here’s a lesson idea we thought might be worth sharing. This is a lesson I use to segue into my unit on the First Amendment, student press law,…

Standing up for what is right in Missouri: stopping SB54

So, Friday was a good day. What Friday demonstrated was that when an injustice – and I know that sounds huge and the slightest bit pretentious – is done, some people are still willing to stand up and do what is right. And the silence from the sponsor of the bill and the complete about…

Need arguments to empower your journalism program? Check these out

The school year is just starting and already those who want to control student thinking and decision-making are hard at work. In an Ohio school that boasts the state’s highest testing scores, prior restraint started last year and a nearly 20-year adviser was removed against her will over the summer. The reason given, one heard…

Student media designated public forums? Apply online for FAPFA recognition

We know there are a significant number of open forum student media out there, and we’d like to see you apply for JEA’s First Amendment Press Freedom Award (FAPFA). Being an open forum for student expression, besides having exceptional educational validity and offering excellent learning opportunities for students, can also help protect a school system…

Missouri SB54 a slap at teacher professionalism

by Matt Schott A slap in the face. And an unexpected one at that. When I first read SB54, that was my reaction. And not a slap to my First Amendment rights, either, though I believe those rights are threatened by the Amy Hestir Student Protection Act and informs much of the anger over this…

Developing media editorial policies makes for good start to the year

As scholastic media staffs begin their year, there really is no more important strategy than developing a strong editorial policy, for print and digital media. For a good model print policy, see JEA’s model editorial policy. For an excellent policy model that combines print and digital media, see JEA Digital Media’s article on collapsing multiple…

Starting the dialogue with your principal

It’s often tough, that’s for sure, but keeping the lines of communication open with your principal is vital. It may mean the difference between the sudden imposition of prior review or having the chance to explain how your students weighed the pros and cons before deciding to run that controversial article. There’s probably no better…

What student journalists learn is essential career training

By Fern Valentine, MJE Working on a publications staff, led by trained student editors, clearly prepares students for future careers, not just a journalism career, but any career. Employers say over and over they want to employ people with the skills students clearly learn on publications staffs. School districts across the country are cutting journalism…

Re-establishing our belief in the right forum

Just because the 2nd Circuit Federal Appeals Court recently handed down a decision in R.O. v. Ithaca City School District laden with shaky interpretations and references, it is not time to surrender or alter our beliefs. “Drawings of stick figures in sexual positions clearly qualify as ‘lewd,’ that is, ‘inciting to sensual desire or imagination,’”…

Student journalist/editor wins primary election in school district where he has been censored

UPDATE ROCHESTER, PA: High school senior Aaron Brant, editor-in-chief of the Rochester High School student newspaper, “The Oracle”, has been censored several times this year, by the administration at his school. Brant has won democratic and republican tickets in the primary election for a seat on the very school board where he attends school. He…