School Board Alarmed after Oral Sex Report in Paper

By: A school board member wants to tighten control over what student journalists write after Columbus North High School's newspaper published articles about oral sex.

The proposal by Bartholomew County School Board member Russell Barnard would require all material to be approved by the newspaper's sponsor, the high school principal and the district superintendent before it is published.

"The administration needs to have control of what's published with the name of the school appearing on it," Barnard told The Republic for a story published Friday. "Right now it looks like the children are running the school and can do as they please. It's time that the adults run the school."

The four-page report in the Columbus North Triangle early this month discussed oral sex and its medical and psychological risks and featured student interviews on how widespread the practice has become. Principal David Clark said students discussed the project with him before it was published and convinced him the issue was important.

"But at no time, especially with regard to the recent article, have I felt the students were operating some silly high school gag," he said.

Barnard, however, said the piece was vulgar and unsuitable for a school newspaper. He crafted the proposed policy that argues that schools should set standards for speech that may be higher than those in the outside world.

"Public schools are not a public forum, and publications may be restricted to ensure they are compatible with the principal directive, teaching," the policy states.

Barnard has asked for his proposal to be placed on the agenda for the school board's Jan. 9 meeting.

Columbus North journalism advisor Kim Green said she would resign if the policy is adopted, and a student editor said most writers likely would quit.

"I don't do pretend journalism," said Green. "It'll be hard to find good journalism teachers when their expertise is turned over to someone else."

Nikki Shepherd, a senior at North and Triangle tri-editor, said submitting to prior review would be a step backward.

"It wouldn't be our voice anymore. It would be theirs," she said.

While the school board likely has the law on its side, that doesn't mean censorship is a good idea, said Mark Goodman, executive director of Student Press Law Center in Arlington, Va. In many cases, officials could be expected to censor any content they believed made the school "look bad."

"It's a recipe for teaching kids how to practice journalism in China, not the United States," he said.