Newspaper students in a small town in Kansas scored a victory for the free press and their community when they found that something was off about the credentials of their newly hired high school principal, Amy Robertson. In checking her background, they could not find any evidence of that the school where Robertson got her master’s and doctorate degrees was accredited. The students dug even deeper and on publishing their article about their findings, Robertson resigned. (The Washington Post, April 5, 2017, by Samantha Schmidt)
The Student Press Law Center cites the Supreme Court case, Hazelwood v. Kuhlmeier as a barrier to the free student speech and press. It downgraded high school newspapers from ‘public forums’ to extensions of the educational program and as such subject to censorship by the principal. SPLC is working to stop authorities from prohibiting students from engaging in “lawful, non-disruptive” expression.