Adopted: MSBA/MASA Model
Policy 512
Revised: Rev. 2002
512 SCHOOL-SPONSORED STUDENT PUBLICATIONS AND
ACTIVITIES
I. PURPOSE
The purpose of
this policy is to protect students’ rights to free speech in production of
official school publications and activities while at the same time balancing
the school district’s role in supervising student publications and the
operation of public schools.
II. GENERAL STATEMENT OF POLICY
A. The school district may exercise
editorial control over the style and content of student expression in
school-sponsored publications and activities.
B. Expressions and representations made by
students in school-sponsored publications and activities are not expressions of
official school district policy. Faculty
advisors shall supervise student writers to ensure compliance with the law and
school district policies.
C. Students who believe their right to free
expression has been unreasonably restricted in an official student publication
or activity may seek review of the decision by the building principal. The principal shall issue a decision no later
than three (3) school days after review is requested.
1. Students producing official school
publications and activities shall be under the supervision of a faculty advisor
and the school principal. Official
publications and activities shall be subject to the guidelines set forth below.
2. Official school publications may be
distributed at reasonable times and locations.
III. DEFINITIONS
A. “Distribution” means circulation or
dissemination of material by means of handing out free copies, selling or
offering copies for sale, accepting donations for copies, posting or displaying material, or placing
materials in internal staff or student mailboxes.
B. “Official school publications” means
school newspapers, yearbooks or material produced in communications, journalism
or other writing classes as a part of the curriculum.
C. “Obscene to minors” means:
1. The average person, applying
contemporary community standards, would find that the material, taken as a
whole, appeals to the prurient interest of minors of the age to whom
distribution is requested;
2. The material depicts or describes, in a
manner that is patently offensive to prevailing standards in the adult
community concerning how such conduct should be presented to minors of the age
to whom distribution is requested, sexual conduct such as intimate sexual acts
(normal or perverted), masturbation, excretory functions, or lewd exhibition of
the genitals; and
3. The material, taken as a whole, lacks
serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value for minors.
D. “Minor” means any person under the age
of eighteen (18).
E. “Material and substantial disruption”
of a normal school activity means:
1. Where the normal school activity is an
educational program of the school district for which student attendance is
compulsory, “material and substantial disruption” is defined as any disruption
which interferes with or impedes the implementation of that program.
2. Where the normal school activity is
voluntary in nature (including, without limitation, school athletic events,
school plays and concerts, and lunch periods) “material and substantial
disruption” is defined as student rioting, unlawful seizures of property,
conduct inappropriate to the event, participation in a school boycott,
demonstration, sit-in, stand-in, walk-out, or other related forms of activity.
In order for
expression to be considered disruptive, there must exist specific facts upon
which the likelihood of disruption can be forecast, including past experience
in the school, current events influencing student activities and behavior, and
instances of actual or threatened disruption relating to the written material
in question.
F. “School activities” means any activity
of students sponsored by the school including, but not limited to, classroom
work, library activities, physical education classes, official assemblies and
other similar gatherings, school athletic contests, band concerts, school plays
and other theatrical productions, and in-school lunch periods.
G. “Libelous” is a false and unprivileged
statement about a specific individual that tends to harm the individual’s
reputation or to lower that individual in the esteem of the community.
IV. GUIDELINES
A. Expression in an official school
publication or school-sponsored activity is prohibited when the material:
1. is obscene to minors;
2. is libelous or slanderous;
3. advertises or promotes any product or
service not permitted for minors by law;
4. encourages students to commit illegal
acts or violate school regulations or substantially disrupts the orderly
operation of school or school activities;
5. expresses or advocates sexual, racial
or religious harassment or violence or prejudice;
6. is distributed or displayed in
violation of time, place and manner regulations.
B. Expression in an official school
publication or school-sponsored activity is subject to editorial control by the
school district over the style and content so long as the school district’s
actions are reasonably related to legitimate pedagogical concerns. These may include, but are not limited to,
the following:
1. assuring that participants learn
whatever lessons the activity is designed to teach;
2. assuring that readers or listeners are
not exposed to material that may be inappropriate for their level of maturity;
3. assuring that the views of the
individual speaker are not erroneously attributed to the school;
4. assuring that the school is not associated
with any position other than neutrality on matters of political controversy;
5. assuring that the sponsored student
speech cannot reasonably be perceived to advocate conduct otherwise
inconsistent with the shared values of a civilized social order;
6. assuring that the school is not
associated with expression that is, for example, ungrammatical, poorly written,
inadequately researched, biased or prejudiced, vulgar or profane, or unsuitable
for immature audiences.
C. Time, Place and Manner of Distribution
Students shall
be permitted to distribute written materials at school as follows:
1. Time
Distribution
shall be limited to the hours before the school day begins, during lunch hour
and after school is dismissed.
2. Place
Written
materials may be distributed in locations so as not to interfere with the
normal flow of traffic within the school hallways, walkways, entry ways and
parking lots. Distribution shall not
impede entrance to or exit from school premises in any way.
3. Manner
No one shall
induce or coerce a student or staff member to accept a student publication.
Legal References: U. S. Const., amend. I
Hazelwood School
District v. Kuhlmeier,
484 U.S. 260, 108 S.Ct. 562, 98 L.Ed. 2d 592 (1988)
Bystrom v.
Fridley High School, I.S.D. No. 14, 822 F. 2d 747 (8th Cir. 1987)
Morse v.
Frederick,
___ U.S. ___, 127 S.Ct. 2618, 168 L.Ed. 2d 290 (2007)
Cross
References: MSBA/MASA Model Policy 505 (Distribution
of Nonschool-Sponsored Materials on School Premises by Students and Employees)
MSBA/MASA Model
Policy 506 (Student Discipline)
MSBA/MASA Model
Policy 904 (Distribution of Materials on School District Property by Nonschool
Persons)