Posted on 11/30/2005 8:14:44 PM PST by SmithL
OAK RIDGE - A controversial edition of the Oak Ridge High School student newspaper that was confiscated last week will remain banned, school officials announced late Tuesday.
A revised version of The Oak Leaf will be distributed to students today, Superintendent Tom Bailey said in a release.
Dropped from the retooled edition is an article describing various types of birth-control methods.
Hastily put in its place Tuesday afternoon by student editor-in-chief Brittany Thomas is an editorial about a recent school play, "The Importance of Being Earnest.''
School officials demanded the change, Thomas said.
"I was told to fill it with another editorial,'' she said.
A feature about tattoos and body piercings that Principal Becky Ervin also objected to has been redesigned to omit photos of underage students baring their tattoos, Thomas said.
No mention of the furor that surfaced over last week's seizure of the paper is contained in the revised edition.
Bailey could not be reached for comment Tuesday afternoon about his decision regarding the paper. The decision was e-mailed as a press release to media outlets.
In his news release, the superintendent said the "administration felt that the interests of the student population would not be served by certain content of the articles.''
There were concerns, he said, "with the graphic nature of the articles and the varying ages of the student population.''
Wanda Grooms, an English teacher and the adviser for the paper, said late Monday night she was ordered by Bailey not to speak to reporters about the controversy.
Grooms didn't return calls Tuesday. Ervin has never been available for comment.
The confiscation last week of all 1,800 copies of The Oak Leaf ignited a firestorm that has gained international attention.
Thomas said CNN News had arranged to interview her Tuesday night about the uproar.
The article detailing birth control methods stated that students don't need their parents' consent to obtain contraceptives, which are available from doctors or the local Health Department.
The article, labeled as an editorial, also quoted a Health Department physician saying that "you can make sure parents do not know'' if a pregnancy test comes back positive.
A number of students and parents aired their views on the controversy during a public forum Monday night at a school board meeting. Some parents said the birth control article was inappropriate, while others defended the students' actions.
Bailey has repeatedly defended the decision to censor.
He says The Oak Leaf isn't a public forum but rather a student curriculum, and other articles prepared for the paper have been censored in the past. He also cites a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that he says upholds his ruling.
Press organizations and First Amendment experts have been united in voicing strong opposition to the administration's decision.
"I just don't understand why the fine Oak Ridge High School is damaging its reputation in this fashion,'' University of Tennessee journalism professor Dwight Teeter said.
"I thought there was going to be some sort of accommodation reached,'' he said. "This sounds like they're drawing a line in the sand.''
"This school's actions are teaching a lesson more appropriate for prewar Iraq than for the United States of America,'' said Mark Goodman, executive director of the Student Press Law Center.
The 10-member board of directors of the East Tennessee chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists "strongly opposes'' the censorship, according to an open letter to Bailey sent Tuesday.
The board says Ervin pulled the two articles "because of subject matter alone, which violates the First Amendment and is contrary to the Supreme Court's ruling for a student newspaper traditionally operated as a public forum within the high school.''
The board asks the school to reconsider its position.
School board member Dan DiGregorio said Tuesday that he feels Bailey's decision was a "building-level decision.''
"I don't think we (school board members) are going to be making a decision,'' DiGregorio said.
Thomas said she was optimistic during talks with school officials about the paper Monday.
"We made negotiations yesterday that I could live with,'' she said. "This morning (Tuesday), they came to us, and took the rug out from underneath us.''
The student editor said she thinks the issue reflects badly on the school and state.
"I see this going to court,'' she said. She said both the American Civil Liberties Union and the Student Press Law Center "are going against what happened here.''
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