By: An assistant principal at a Chapel Hill middle school confiscated copies of the student newspaper this week because it named students in stories about kissing in the hallway and an assault on a school bus driver.
Valerie Reinhardt, Smith Middle School principal, confirmed that the papers were seized for violating the school's policy on confidentiality.
One of the stories is about an eighth-grader who received detention for kissing his girlfriend in the hallway. School policy prohibits such behavior. The other story says several students were charged with assaulting a bus driver in December. One of the accused students, who is said to work for the newspaper, posed for a picture that accompanied the story.
Chris Roush, adviser to The Cyclone Scoop staff and a University of North Carolina-Chapel Bill journalism professor, said the students in both stories granted interviews and permission to use their names.
"I'm obviously disappointed in this action," Roush said. "This is supposed to be a real-life experience ... both for the student who wrote the stories and the students in the stories. The reporter took great care to be objective."
Reinhardt said she doesn't know all of the facts, but said her job is protect the confidentiality of minors.
Stephanie Knott, a spokeswoman for the Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools, said the school is looking into whether the students knew they were on the record when they were interviewed. She also said the school's attorney was not contacted before the papers were confiscated.
In an e-mail message to The News & Observer of Raleigh, Cyclone Scoop staff member Jacob Hoerger expressed frustration with the school's actions.
"I believe this is a violation of our rights," he wrote.
Roush's department at UNC-Chapel Hill prints the paper and pays for the $280 printing costs. No school money is used to publish the paper, he said.
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