STYLETHREAD -- LET'S TALK SHOP!

IMO, I think that the community is overreacting.  I understand that the "theme" could offend conservative parents.  I can also see how it's not exactly appropriate for a public highschool.  High schoolers are minors, and regardless of whether or not we think they can handle double entendre, their parents have the ultimate say until they turn 18.   That said, I don't think this is a situation where the principal and /or advisor need to be fired.  The theme may be inappropriate, but it's not so serious that people should lose their jobs; that's a bit extreme.  

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Originally posted by: Cricket
"It definatly is a poor choice.  A VERY inappropriate choice for a high school yearbook.  I would be furious if my child was a student there. How old is their advisor?  Are they new?  I'm surprised I haven't heard about this.  Is this HS in N. Phoenix?  I don't watch the local news so much anymore, but I read the paper.  "

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I totally agree!

personally i think it's hilarious, however i do think it's a poor choice given the community demographics. also i feel like at some point it should have dawned on the adviser that maybe this is not the best idea and he should have made the kids tone it down a notch.

overall i think the parents are probably getting carried away (but then again i don't have kids). i don't think the principal or adviser should be fired, though i do think you could probably make a case for firing the adviser. however i think that the reprints and refunds are sufficient.

I think that is very innappropriate.  This is ok for graduating high-schoolers, but what about the freshmen?  I know my mother would not have been happy about that when i was only 15 (little did she know the things i was doing...and i never even showed her my yearbooks anyhow b/c she would get nosy and read what people wrote).  I think the refunds and reprints are necessary, but I can't believe that got past a yearbook advisor (faculty person)!

Completely inappropriate!  I would be one of those parents having a huge cow!

I will be the yearbook editor at my high school next year and this idea WOULD NEVER fly at my school (but it is a private school...one of the titles for an interview of a basketball player was Ballin' Billy and the principal had a cow.  Thought it was something sexual, but that's a horse of a different color...).  I definitely think that its inappropriate.  Funny, but not something that should be published schoolwide.  Besides, I don't even think "X-Rated" is really a theme.  I did go to a high school journalism conference over the summer though, and apparently if its a public school, school newspapers are pretty much protected by the first amendment (don't know about yearbooks but I doubt it's any different).  They told us about a specific case where the newspaper was all about sex, with polls and testimonies and the whole nine yards, and IIRC there pretty much wasn't anything the school could do except restrict when they handed it out (ie, not during school hours).

First of all -- Ballin' Billy is hilarious. My kids tried to put "Whack It With a Racquet" as a headline on the tennis spread once and I said no for the same reason.

anyway, to answer your question -- Tinker vs. Des Moines (1969) does give public-HS students 1st amendment rights. HOWEVER, Hazelwood vs. Kuhlmeier (1988) gives school administrators the right to censor/have prior review over publications. So basically, they could still have a yearbook, but the admin. would have a say-so over whatever is in it. This sounds fine to most people, but it is dangerous for a lot of reasons I won't get into.

Anyway, school newspapers have a way around this censorship. If the paper has a history of operating as an "open forum for student opinion," meaning they are functioning in a for-students-by-students way (i.e. members of the student body can submit letters, they solicit comments, etc.), the newspaper could win a court case against a school district that tried to censor them.

The trouble with yearbooks is that they are not public forums. They have a much harder time fighting censorship.

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Originally posted by: theotherjess
" They told us about a specific case where the newspaper was all about sex, with polls and testimonies and the whole nine yards, and IIRC there pretty much wasn't anything the school could do except restrict when they handed it out (ie, not during school hours)."

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-- Edited by halleybird at 20:37, 2005-05-20

I agree that it was inappropriate.  I cannot imagine having a child bring that kind of thing home.  And I would probably be extremely uncomfortable with my child working with the advisor who exhibited the poor judgement to approve the section titles.  I hope you will keep us updated, Halleybird.  My prediction is that yearbook advisor will quit.

I mean, yeah, it's kind of clever and funny (for adults), but when I am a parent, I know that I will not want my kid to know the first thing about anything x-rated.  I don't know what I would do but I do think it's important to back up all the beliefs you try to instill in your child by demonstrating your faith in those beliefs.  At this point in my life, I don't know what kind of action would best demonstrate that, but I know my kid and I would be having a long talk. . .

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Originally posted by: halleybird
"I am very, very concerned about student press rights in our district, though. I'll let you guys know what happens. "

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I was thinking that too.

When I was in highschool a friend of mine did a story in the paper about how easy it was to get fake ids and get into over 18 establishments. In the story he didn't say were to get them or advocate that anyone should. I went to a small private school and many parents were outraged that a story like this would be published. The paper story was telling kids they should get fake ids according to parents. It sucked becasue then the rest of the year all paper and yearbook stories had to be apporved by our advisor. He ran both the newspaper and the yearbook. There were a few times that if he was really swamped he would let me (yearbook editor) and the newspaper editor check the stories over, but that was not often. The paper and yearbook were lame that year and normally they were both award winning publications.

I know my writing and attitude suffered when I was being censored. I am afraid these kids will be watched and the admin. will be extra sensitive about what can be published.