ACLU sues high school over newspaper censorship

(Copyright AP Photo/Alan Diaz, 2007)

By Sammy Kanter

Administrators have shut down the school newspaper at Fallbrook High School in San Diego County after censoring two articles, and they now face a lawsuit from the American Civil Liberties Union.  

According to the Associated Press and the First Amendment Center, the ACLU said the school violated the free-speech rights of the students by censoring the articles, eliminating the journalism class, closing down the paper, and cutting the faculty adviser.  The ACLU also asked for a court order to prohibit censorship by school or district officials of future publication of the two articles, according to the San Diego Union-Tribune.

The first article, scheduled for publication in the Tomahawk last November, involves the superintendent's decisions involving the school and the nearby wildfires in October 2007.  The second article was an editorial criticizing the Bush administration's support to teach abstinence in sex education classes.  Principal Rod King said the first story was inaccurate, and the editorial's language and tone seemed too mature for a student to write.

An attorney for the district, Dan Shinoff, said the school cut the journalism program in relation to state budget cuts that predated the controversy.  

A state Senate bill passed in late September protects high school and college teachers and advisers from retaliation by their administrations upset by student speech.  This lawsuit, filed on Nov. 10 in San Diego County Superior Court, asks for the newspaper class and faculty adviser to be restored.