Student editors lose bid to halt future seizures of school newspaper
By The Associated Press
02.18.03
AKRON, Ohio — A federal judge has refused to block a school district from confiscating future editions of the Wooster High School newspaper, ruling student editors provided no evidence that it would happen again.
Copies of The Wooster Blade were confiscated by Superintendent David Estrop on Dec. 19. Estrop said he did so because an article wrongly identified two students as being punished for attending two off-campus parties where alcohol was consumed.
U.S. District Judge James S. Gwin ruled on Feb. 14 that the students' request for a preliminary injunction, which sought protection from prior review, failed to provide evidence that the district would again confiscate the newspaper. Gwin said it was an isolated incident.
The students and the school district agreed to distribute the newspaper in January with two offending sentences blacked out.
The editors have filed a lawsuit contending that the school district violated their First Amendment rights. They contend the Dec. 20 edition should have been distributed even though it contained inaccuracies.
Gwin has not yet ruled on whether their First Amendment rights were violated.
The lawsuit seeks a court order requiring officials' acknowledgment the confiscation was wrong and will not be repeated.
The students argue that although the Supreme Court in its 1988 decision Hazelwood School District v. Kuhlmeier gave school administrators the right to restrict high school student publications when they have a legitimate educational reason for doing so, the district's "no prior review" policy waives the right to seize a publication.
The policy prohibits school officials from reviewing or censoring student publications.
Estrop says the policy gives him the right to prohibit distribution once the newspaper is printed if he feels articles are libelous or obscene.