Latest controversy reminds us of work to be done
Here’s what disturbed me most about the situation: The principal “hosted a debate Monday about the rights of student journalists.”
I’m all for public discourse, civil dialogue and any kind of event that might bring heightened awareness to First Amendment rights. But it sounds here like this was a staged event, a la American Idol, in which attendees could determine the fate of student media.
I don’t believe the First Amendment is up for debate, but principals continue to argue otherwise.
Opening the conversation to a town hall-style debate reminds me that we need to do more to educate the average reader, voter, parent, legislator, community member and student about student press rights. We need to continue to raise our collective voices.
Here are a few suggestions to guide students and advisers in their brainstorming for 2012:
1. Host a First Amendment Symposium. The Indiana High School Press Association folks do a great job with their symposium and can serve as a model for other states or groups. Student media groups need to be the ones shaping the discussion rather than being the ones affected by knee-jerk reactions.
2. Go crazy with positive press rights propaganda. I loved the “Bill of Rights on a Stick” from the JEA/NSPA Minneapolis convention adviser bags and generally favor anything fun and interactive that might spread our message. Whether your students promote a free First Amendment mobile app like one the here (although it’s too bad it has so many ads), create a special First Amendment issue of their publication, design new T-shirts focused on the important decision-making skills from their rights and responsibilities, host a question-and-answer event at the public library or some other event, now is the time.
We have three months until Scholastic Journalism Week and plenty of resources at our disposal. Let’s share ideas here for how to make the next set of public events ones we host, ones that educate our stakeholders and ones that keep free student expression a priority.
Latest controversy reminds us of work to be done
Here’s what disturbed me most about the situation: The principal “hosted a debate Monday about the rights of student journalists.”
I’m all for public discourse, civil dialogue and any kind of event that might bring heightened awareness to First Amendment rights. But it sounds here like this was a staged event, a la American Idol, in which attendees could determine the fate of student media.
I don’t believe the First Amendment is up for debate, but principals continue to argue otherwise.
Opening the conversation to a town hall-style debate reminds me that we need to do more to educate the average reader, voter, parent, legislator, community member and student about student press rights. We need to continue to raise our collective voices.
Here are a few suggestions to guide students and advisers in their brainstorming for 2012:
1. Host a First Amendment Symposium. The Indiana High School Press Association folks do a great job with their symposium and can serve as a model for other states or groups. Student media groups need to be the ones shaping the discussion rather than being the ones affected by knee-jerk reactions.
2. Go crazy with positive press rights propaganda. I loved the “Bill of Rights on a Stick” from the JEA/NSPA Minneapolis convention adviser bags and generally favor anything fun and interactive that might spread our message. Whether your students promote a free First Amendment mobile app like one the here (although it’s too bad it has so many ads), create a special First Amendment issue of their publication, design new T-shirts focused on the important decision-making skills from their rights and responsibilities, host a question-and-answer event at the public library or some other event, now is the time.
We have three months until Scholastic Journalism Week and plenty of resources at our disposal. Let’s share ideas here for how to make the next set of public events ones we host, ones that educate our stakeholders and ones that keep free student expression a priority.
A model social media policy
As an educator in Missouri, I was going to have to live under the thumb of SB54, now known as SB1, which Gov. Jay Nixon just signed into law. The new law eliminates the provisions that were offensive to so many teachers and First Amendment advocates in SB54, but still requires districts to enact some sort of policy by March 1, 2012 regarding employee-student communication.
So, at the urging of John Bowen, I have written a model social media policy for educators in our state. The text of it is below. I wrote this bill based off the following premise: that educators who fail to use social media as a teaching tool are not serving the best interests of their students or themselves.
Social media is so pervasive amongst our students that to ignore teaching students how to use it in forthright ways is tantamount to not properly doing our jobs as educators. Interacting via social media is a form of communication that should be governed just as any other communication an educator has with their students. Discussions in the classroom, after class, in a hallway or on Facebook, should be governed by the same rules, end of discussion.
Here is the policy. I’ve included a link to a Google Doc. If you find things you disagree with, let’s talk. If you have resources I don’t – and let’s face it, some of you do – then please share and add them to the doc. Social media moves so quickly; this Doc must continue to evolve with it.
If you believe this is a policy that would be useful in your school district, please feel free to share it with the powers that be in your district. I only ask two things if you do. First, please let me know you intend to do so (I’d like to keep a record of where this is going). Second, be passionate about the impact social media can have in our classrooms and upon our students. Don’t just offer it up to your principal. Persuade them to your point of view.
Read MoreConstitution Day lesson plans, resources for 2011
Constitution Day Lesson Plans for Sept. 16, 2011
Our Constitution Day lesson plans provided here are designed to help students celebrate the Constitution and Bill of Rights, as mandated by Congress. Legislation requires schools to offer lessons on the Constitution and how it affects all Americans. Our lesson plans emphasize the First Amendment and particularly the freedoms of speech and the press.
The first unit has two parts. The first is intended as an overview of the First Amendment while the second applies Freedom of Speech as addressed in a Philadelphia Inquirer article by Michael Smerconish. A PDF accompanies this article (or you can download it as a PowerPoint) and there is an extensive list of additional resources.
The second unit includes a quick discussion of interpreting the Constitution and then explores off campus speech using real and hypothetical scenarios. Possible solutions for the scenarios will be available early this week.
The third unit examines a 2011 Washington court case that established schools are not liable for what student newspapers publish as long as the content is not reviewed by school administrators prior to publication. We will have more on this court decision in the coming months.
Lori Keekley
for JEA’s Scholastic Press Rights Commission and the Constitution Day Committee
Constitution Day Committee:
Megan Fromm, Ph.D.
Lori Keekley, teacher, St. Louis Park High School (MN)
Jeff Kocur, teacher, Hopkins High School (MN)
Chris Waugaman, teacher, Prince George High School (VA)
John Bowen and Mark Goodman, Kent State University (OH) contributed resources
Questions for thought: a series of exercises on freedom of expression
Our second Question for Thought involves a common argument for censorship: Damaging the public’s image of the school or its programs.
• Explore instances where scholastic media excess damaged public trust, a belief in the First Amendment and/or a school system. What led to the excess? How best could it have been prevented? What actions, including censorship, would have prevented it? Would we be better off limiting our freedoms to avoid the excesses? Why or why not? Using a a process determined by the instructor, sketch out an approach that could have prevented the excess.
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