A 1974 commission of inquiry into high school journalism found that “Censorship is the fundamental cause of the triviality, innocuousness and uniformity that characterize the high school press.” The Outlook is none of those things, nor should it ever be.

In Haldane Central School District’s Policy Manual, under section 7410: Extracurricular Activities there is a heading that reads “Censorship of School-Sponsored Student Publications and Activities”. Below the heading, it is stated that “the District may exercise editorial control over the style and content of student speech in school-sponsored publications and activities that are part of the educational curriculum.” The school enshrines its right to censor any part of this newspaper, and that needs to change.

To be fair, the relationship that exists between the school and The Haldane Outlook is currently working well. We have not yet been formally censored, and student journalists mostly feel they are free to criticize the district and cover topics that may be seen as controversial. However, the idea that the school reserves the right to censor The Outlook creates an unhealthy environment for student journalism and directly contradicts The Outlook’s founding charter, which confirms the paper’s commitment to “remaining an independent voice” of the student body.

Using a model policy template provided by lawyers at the Student Press Law Center, we have proposed a revised version of our district’s policy that would protect Haldane from the liability its current flawed policy leaves exposed. It would also protect student journalists’ right to report accurately and honestly on topics in their own voice by enshrining The Outlook’s status as a dedicated public forum for student expression that is clearly separate from the official perspective of the school administration.

Unfortunately, Haldane is not an outlier in our region in its policy approach to student publication censorship. The school has adopted what is basically the standard for publications in New York State and more than half of the country. The Outlook’s charter already establishes the paper as “a designated public forum for student editors to inform their readers,” and our editorial procedures and policies make it clear that students are fully in charge of the production and content of the paper. If the District takes a similar step, officially stating in the policy manual that “Student journalists are responsible for determining the news, opinion, feature, and advertising content of school-sponsored student media,” as is recommended in the sample policy The Outlook has submitted for consideration by the Board of Education, then any confusion about the responsibility of the administration to review and censor student speech will be removed.

Although according to the SPLC, libel lawsuits filed against high school student journalism programs are extremely rare, the concern that a newspaper associated with the school could land the district in legal troubles is not unfounded. However, the current district policy that authorizes censorship of student publications actually makes the district responsible for the speech of the publication and leaves it more open to lawsuits. By returning that responsibility to the publication itself, an updated district policy can limit the liability of the school and support high-quality independent student journalism at the same time.