By Leslie
Olsen
(Indianapolis) - As a Franklin Central High School
journalism advisor waits to see if he'll return to his
class Monday following a five-day
suspension. Some wonder whether his school
administration has violated the First Amendment rights
of his students.
The front page of last week's Franklin Central Pilot
Flashes has a student-written story about a classmate
charged with murder. Teacher-advisor Chad Tuley approved
the article.
After it was
distributed to students, the principal threw away
remaining copies that are usually sent to outside
readers. Advisor Tuley was suspended. He spoke with News
8 by telephone. “I do feel like I'm simply defending the
students’ rights,” he said.
The first Amendment guarantees freedom of speech, but
a 1988 Supreme Court ruling called Hazelwood vs.
Kuhlmeier makes exceptions for high school publications.
The ruling says, "A school need not tolerate student
speech that is inconsistent with its basic educational
mission."
Interpretations of that phrase cause debate.
Dennis Cripe, executive director of the Indiana High
School Press Association, believes the Franklin Central
article was not inconsistent with the school
mission.
“Carried along with that supreme court ruling of
1988, there needs to be a good educational rationale for
that type of censorship and in this case, I don't
believe there was any kind of rationale offered for
either censoring or suspending the advisor, certainly
kind of shutting down the program,” said Cripe.
The Franklin Central administration interprets the
ruling differently. ”If you read Hazelwood, it’s pretty
much the school and the administration are the
publishers of the paper,” said Scott Miley, school
spokesman. The school also believes it is within its
rights to control content as well.
“I teach in my journalism class…part of the
course requirements is to cover landmark cases and you
cover some of the First Amendment issues and so you know
we talk about what you can and cannot print and that
kind of stuff. And so I think this is a real life
example,” said Tuley.
Tuley says if he does return as newspaper advisor
following his suspension, his class will study this case
in depth.
