Alexandria City Public Schools is looking to update its policy for student publications, but possible changes in the policy have led to concerns from students and school board members alike.
The school system hasn’t updated their student publication policy since 2014, and their effort to make policy changes for yearbooks, newspapers, morning announcements, literary mags and clubs has led to a debate about how much freedom students have to publish under the school’s banner.
Many of the updates are benign, but the independence of student journalists elicited concerns from school board member Abdulahi Abdalla at a governance meeting last week. He’s open to faculty advisors being involved in the editorial process but, “I don’t think the principal should be the editor, I just think the principal should review the work.”
But fellow school board member Tim Beaty was worried the faculty advisor’s role as a student advocate could muddy the editorial waters, instead he offered: “In the final case of something that’s in question, [it] should not rest with that teacher but rather with the executive principal’s decision.”
UVA Law professor Kevin Cope said student journalists’ First Amendment rights are governed by two U.S. Supreme Court standards: Tinker, the famous armband protest case that allows speech as long as it’s not disruptive. And Hazelwood in which a principal removed articles on teen pregnancy from a school paper. This more restrictive standard found: “All the school needs to show is the censorship is reasonably related to a legitimate pedagogical concern, so much easier to censor.”
Alexandria City High School students who run the over 70-year-old Theogony newspaper say the school should adopt a less restrictive policy.
"This policy is straight from the playbook of authoritarian governments that fear criticism," the school paper's editorial board wrote this week. "A school district that claims to welcome equity and student voice should be nowhere near it."
In a statement sent to Radio IQ, ACPS said they had several goals in mind for any policy the board may approve in the future: supporting, "vibrant, student-led press that values accuracy and responsible journalism," and providing, "clear, viewpoint-neutral procedures so everyone understands how concerns are handled."
All the while they hope student publications, "meet legal duties regarding student privacy, libel, and the orderly operation of schools."
Debate over changes has already pushed a final vote to a later school board meeting, though students are expected to speak at a meeting Thursday.
This report, provided by Virginia Public Radio, was made possible with support from the Virginia Education Association.
