Student Press Law Center
June 7, 2010
By Josh Moore
Bill Riggs told Midland, Texas, television station KWES that he resigned as the adviser for The Corral because of a difference of opinion with administrators and that he did not want the journalism program to suffer.
Steven Saldivar, superintendent of the Big Spring Independent School District, said the editorial conflicted with the district’s policy of discouraging illegal drug use.
“We talk to our kids all the time about the dangers of drugs and we felt that it was contrary to the positive message of staying away from drugs,” Saldivar said.
Principal Mike Ritchey said he usually reviews the newspaper before it is printed but he did not get a chance to do that for this issue. When administrators saw the editorial, they decided to remove all copies of the newspaper from the classrooms.
“We certainly try to stay within the framework of the expectations of the community that we live in,” Ritchey said. “Court cases support school censorship of articles. And we feel like that’s necessary for us to censor editorials in the best interest of our program and the best interest of our school and community.”
Ritchey said schools have to censor students to stay within state laws and their student codes of conduct.
“So I feel like censorship is very important,” he said. “There’s a very fine line between censorship and taking away the creativity of students to write.”
Frank LoMonte, executive director of the Student Press Law Center, said that courts have ruled that the First Amendment protects political speech even in schools.
“A political opinion urging a change in the law is absolutely the highest and most protected First Amendment speech,” he said.
LoMonte pointed to the 2007 U.S. Supreme Court decision in Morse v. Frederick that specifically said that encouraging the legalization of drugs was protected free speech for students.
“Someone at the school district needs to reread the Constitution,” he said.
The Corral editor-in-chief Marisa Nieto told KWES that she was surprised by the administration’s reaction to the editorial.
“I just couldn’t believe that someone was making a big deal out of such a little — to me, in my eyes — a very little thing,” she said.
Nieto said she was concerned about the future of The Corral now that Riggs has resigned, but Ritchey said there will “absolutely” be a newspaper next year.
“I think we consider that a very important program for our school,” he said.
Riggs could not be reached by press time.
Copyright 2010 Student Press Law Center