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Nevada makes 12. Who will be next?

Posted by on Jun 6, 2017 in Blog, News, Scholastic Journalism, Teaching | 0 comments

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Nevada became the latest state to pass New Voices legislation when Gov. Brian Sandoval signed SB 420 into law June 2. The law goes into effect Oct. 1.

Nevada’s signing  followed a similar signing a week earlier in Vermont, making 12 states protecting state legislation.

Supporters of Nevada’s New Voices Facebook page posted, “Thank you, followers and supporters, for making history and giving real meaning back to Justice Fortas’ reminder that neither students nor their advisers ‘shed their constitutional rights to freedom of speech or expression at the schoolhouse gate.’ You have helped ensure that student journalism in Nevada can be, as Justice Brennan famously said, uninhibited, robust, and wide open.'”

As Dan Brown had main character Robert Langdon say in The Lost Symbol, “We are builders. We are creators…” Creating state protection for student free expression is one of the best ways to ensure a long-term foundation for democracy.

Advocating free expression is not a decision to rush into lightly,  but there are a plethora of resources available, and people ready to explain them and assist you. And results creates achieve are immensely worthwhile.

Here are some key links:

• Center of Scholastic Journalism video of its 2016 Legislation Conference

• New Voices  website or Facebook pages

• SPRC’s Blueprint for state legislation

• Individual states seeking to pass legislation  have online sites and Facebook links.

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Hazelwood’s impact more than a memory

Posted by on Apr 18, 2013 in Blog, Hazelwood, Law and Ethics, News, Scholastic Journalism, Teaching, Uncategorized | 1 comment

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Just like any big event — you remember where you were or what you were doing. Those who were advising scholastic media when the Supreme Court announced  Hazelwood v.Kuhlmeier 25 years ago probably can recall their reactions — and maybe those of their administrators as well.

My own recollection: The principal, a fairly supportive guy, motioned me into his office. “Have you heard the decision?” Of course I knew what he meant. “Yes.” I smiled and added, “But there’s no room for you to moved your desk up to the X-Ray office.”

Luckily the St. Charles High School student newspaper, the X-Ray, didn’t face prior review. There had been some sticky moments in the past, but I got along well with this principal and his successor a short time later.

Not everyone had such smooth sailing. One way to find out what happened then and what changes followed was to talk to advisers who were in the classroom and student media newsroom both before Jan. 13, 1988 and after. What impact did they see from that landmark Hazelwood v. Kuhlmeier decision? What difference did it make to them and their students and others they observed?

That’s why the Center for Scholastic Journalism at Kent State took advantage of the Fall 2012 JEA/NSPA National High School Journalism Convention in San Antonio to interview four such advisers who were attending. All taught at that time, and one is still in the classroom while the other three are retired but very much involved with high school media as mentors in the Journalism Education Association program and press association board members.

Gary Lindsay, JEA regional director recently retired from Kennedy High School, Cedar Rapids, Iowa, was only in his second year of advising when Hazelwood came about.

Janet Levin, adviser in 1988 and today at John Hersey High School, Arlington Heights, Ill., remembers the local media reaching her when she didn’t yet know the decision.

At Homestead High School in Cupertino, Cal., Nick Ferentinos’ principal almost immediately took what he saw as an opportunity to remove an article in progress about an HIV-positive student.

Wayne Dunn, president of the Ohio Scholastic Media Association and JEA mentor, had been advising four years at Lebanon (Ohio) High School in 1988.

See what they had to say. Did Hazelwood have the kind of impact journalism educators feared in 1988? According to these four advisers who have seen the before and after, yes, the chilling effect on student journalists has indeed made a difference, and it hasn’t been a good one.

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Impressed by the FAPFA winners? Show everyone your forum status, too

Posted by on Feb 21, 2013 in Blog, Hazelwood, Law and Ethics, News, Scholastic Journalism, Teaching | 0 comments

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Impressed by the First Amendment Press Freedom Award schools? We are.

We would bet, though, there are more student media out there that would qualify as forums. So, between now and next fall when the next FAPFA deadline comes around, let others know of your forum status by applying to be recognized  this Scholastic Journalism Week.hazelwoodcolor

Go to the Center for Scholastic Journalism website and learn more about that recognition, and then submit the online form to apply.

Establishing your student media as open forums for student expression – not closed or limited forums – can make a huge difference in developing a Hazelwood Cure. The best forum is like preventative medicine. The worst is like being exposed to active disease cultures. The information and resources below can help you on the road to wellness.

CSJ recently added these schools as open forums, and their locations will be pinned on CSJ’s Google map:

•Lafayette High School, Wildwood, MO.
• Eureka High School, Eureka, MO.
• South Hadley High School, South Hadley, MA.

Links to map resources:

• Forum definitions,

• List of designated open forums,

• CSJ Forum PowerPoint in case you have further questions about your forum status

• CSJ Forum Application.

Need another eight reasons to work toward designated public forum status/?

Daniel Reimold wrote 8 ways a landmark Supreme Court ruling has changed student journalism on the Poynter website Feb. 21. His main source, SPLC executive director Frank LoMonte, called the Hazelwood decision’s input of scholastic journalism “sheer devastation.”

If nothing else might convince those public forum schools out there to become recognized for their achievements this article and its key points, might.

Reimold ended the article with this quote from LoMonte: I’t disheartening to see anyone censored,” said LoMonte, “but it’s doubly disheartening when people are so frightened and intimidated that they won’t even speak up about it. You’re never going to change public policy until the decision makers perceive there is a widespread problem.”

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Tweet2: Choosing your forum status is like choosing the best medicine

Posted by on Jan 9, 2013 in Blog, Hazelwood, Law and Ethics, News, Scholastic Journalism, Teaching | 0 comments

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Which forum? Best prescription to cure Hazelwood is open forum for student expression.

http://jeasprc.org/choosing-forum…-best-medicine/ #25HZLWD

Establishing your student media as open forums for student expression – not closed or limited forums – can make a huge difference in developing a cure of Hazelwood. The best forum is like preventative medicine. The worst is like being exposed to active disease cultures. The information and resources below can help you on the road to wellness.hazelwoodcolor

The information below is broken into several categories:
• Deciding which forum best serves your students – and your community
• Importance of  designated forum status
• 
Questions to consider when setting up your forum status
• Questions to ask those who want to limit the forum
• Additional resources (Forum definitionsList of designated open forumsCSJ Forum PowerPointCSJ Forum Application)

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Looking for a few open forums

Posted by on Nov 3, 2012 in Blog, Law and Ethics, News, Scholastic Journalism, Teaching, Uncategorized | 0 comments

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The upcoming 25th anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court’s Hazelwood decision reminds us how important it is to have student media that are open forums for student expression either by school policy or by practice. Do they exist? We hope so…
Our goal: To showcase your schools and your policies to the nation on a Forum Map so we see that not all student media are subjected to the limitations and censorship of that misguided decision.

We, JEA’s Scholastic Press Rights Commission (SPRC) and Kent State’s Center for Scholastic Journalism (CSJ), ask all student media that are open forums to complete the attached form and return it or send links to your policies to us.

• Here’s what you do:

Download the writeable form and return it to KentStateCSJ@gmail.com with requested policies and other materials.

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