Proposed ‘censorship’ policy for school newspapers withdrawn

The Seattle School District announced today that the policy proposal dealing with district-sponsored freedom of expression will be pulled from the current list of policy updates. In other words, school newspapers can continue to publish stories without the fear of being censored by the school principal.

On Friday, Kate Clark and Katie Kennedy, the editor-in-chief and managing editor of the Ballard High School newspaper, the Ballard Talisman, started the fight against the policy. The two student journalists felt that censorship by the principal infringed on their freedom of speech and freedom of the press.

“As a former journalism teacher, it is important for me — as I know it is for our Board — that we uphold our practice of trusting our teachers to educate our students on the rights and responsibilities that come with freedom of expression and a free press,” Interim Superintendent Dr. Susan Enfield.

“The district made the right decision in protecting students free speech,” Clark and Kennedy tell us. “We plan to continue exercising our freedom of expression as provided by the current policy. We hope that the state of Washington will someday enact a state law that guarantees students right to freedom of expression.”

Geeky Swedes

The founders of My Ballard

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