I'm pretty PO'd right now. My school censored the newspaper so a memorial couldn't be shown about a student who committed suicide... yet a couple years ago, a guy was being dumb with his friends, was speeding, drove into a lake, couldn't get out of the car like the rest of his friends, and died. He gets a memorial and a help group in the school is dedicated after him.

the hell? Just because the one kid was an honors student turned druggie (probably due to depression, hell, self-medication) doesn't mean his death doesn't matter like a baseball player's. I don't see why a couple years makes such a difference.

Both are sad, both were equally preventable. So why should the situation be so different?

one of my friends was the previous editor-in-chief last year and she wrote a letter to send out everywhere and present at the school board meeting. Since they'd like to raise awareness... not that it matters, maybe, for people on here to see this. I feel it's the only way I can, though.

Honestly I don't even care this gives away one of two cities where I could live. I'm so pissed off right now.

but the ACLU is probably going to sue my school.

we already don't have enough money to repave the parking lot. o_o

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At the beginning of the school year, the all-student staff of the Stohion decided to print a picture of a fellow student who committed suicide alongside a letter from his parents. Principal Sue Schur told the advisor and the class that the photo was not permitted in the memorial, which changed the paper’s policy on how it handles deaths that occur at the high school. This directive violated the student’s first amendment rights and thus the students tried to fight this order.

During discussions that Schur and Superintendent Dr. Jones had with the students, both administrators admitted that what they were doing was censorship and illegal. Despite the fact that the students agreed to omit the picture, Schur demanded prior review, which is another form of censorship that is illegal. During the prior review, Schur crossed out the Editorial Policy beginning at the line that stated, “This publication and its staff are protected by and bound to the principles of the first amendment as well as other statutes described by the constitution.” By decimating the Stohion’s Editorial Policy, Schur has escalated the issue from prior review of the paper to prior restraint, which is an action is taken to prevent the publication of information.

The laws of censorship with student-run high school newspapers are recognized in the cases Tinker v. Des Moines, Hazelwood v. Kuhlmeier and Kincaid v. Gibson. According to information from the ACLU of Ohio and the Student Press Law Center, Schur indeed committed a crime three times throughout this debacle, making the situation about constitutional rights and not about a simple picture meant to memorialize a fellow student.

Jones and Schur both took a delicate situation too far. The students have been threatened and oppressed by these administrators. Jones told the students that if they did not like what he was doing they could take him to court—a tactic he used to scare the students into not taking action. Two years ago, when I was editor-in-chief, Jones first threatened to prior review our paper. Back then, he was ignorant of the illegality of his threats; today, I assure you, he is not.

The community and Board of Education of Stow-Munroe Falls need to take a stand against this crime and support our students who are trying to do the right thing and maintain their integrity, although it seems the administration has lost theirs. The students’ efforts to follow the law while still following school rules should be lauded.

For further reading I suggest the ACLU of Ohio’s letter to Jones and Schur as well as the SPLC’s resource guide, both of which can be found online.

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