Administrators suggest advisers pull edit as disruptive, negative and not what school wants

• Author says censored editorial presents a factual, legal case against policy changes
• Administrators say the editorial is disruptive, negative toward school administrators and not conducive to the school’s view of what a student-led newspaper should accomplish
• Press lawyer says editorial is not disruptive to school environment

by John Bowen, MJE
Administrators at Texas High School in Texarkana, Texas, this week advised Tiger Times advisers to remove the editorial “Students, not suspects” claiming the piece was disruptive.

Tiger Times editor-in-chief Doug Kyles said in a press release May 3 the principal claimed the article was negative towards the school’s administration and not conducive to the school’s view of what the student-led newspaper should accomplish.

Mike Hiestand, Senior Legal Counsel at the Student Press Law Center, said a review of the article indicated it did not fit the standard of what constitutes disruptive speech in schools.

“The editorial is very well written and legally clean,” Hiestand said. “It is not disruptive as that term has been interpreted by courts,” the press release noted.

Kyles said he was questioned on the article by an associate principal after its initial release. The principal claimed the article was negative towards the school’s administration and not conducive to the school’s view of what the student-led newspaper should accomplish.

Representatives of the Student Press Law Center said the administration’s justification for ordering the removal of the article is not legally sufficient.

“The First Amendment makes clear that public school officials can’t censor otherwise lawful student speech simply because they think it makes the school look bad,” Hiestand said.

Hiestand said Kyles indicated any meeting to discuss reposting the editorial won’t occur until Monday.

For more information:
• JEA, its Scholastic Press Rights Committee, and the SPLC will continue to work together to share information about where, why and what is censored, and ultimately, what students, advisers and communities can do about it.
• The SPLC posted this to its web site and this editorial from the Tiger Times. The post includes a link to the student’s press release, which we’d love for you to share with your students.
• The SPLC will contact local and national media to judge if there might be interest in pointing out how the landscape for fighting censorship has changed in 2022.

Contacts:
• Doug Kyles, Editor-in-Chief Tiger Times at doug.kyles@tigertimesonline.com 
• Student Press Law Center: (202) 785-5450