Oak Ridge High School Newspaper confiscated

[B_Ko]

Yahoo news had this to say:

OAK RIDGE, Tenn. - Copies of a high school's student newspaper were seized by administrators because the edition contained stories about birth control and tattoos, stirring a First Amendment debate.

Administrators at Oak Ridge High School went into teachers' classrooms, desks and mailboxes to retrieve all 1,800 copies of the newspaper Tuesday, said teacher Wanda Grooms, who advises the staff, and Brittany Thomas, the student editor.

The Oak Leaf's birth control article listed success rates for different methods and said contraceptives were available from doctors and the local health department. Superintendent Tom Bailey said the article needed to be edited so it would be acceptable for the entire school.

The edition also contained a photo of an unidentified student's tattoo, and the student had not told her parents about the tattoo, said Superintendent Tom Bailey.

"I have a problem with the idea of putting something in the paper that makes us a part of hiding something from the parents," he said.

The paper can be reprinted if the changes are made, he said.

"We have a responsibility to the public to do the right thing," he said. "We've got 14-year-olds that read the newspaper."

Thomas said she wasn't sure about making changes. "I'm not completely OK with reprinting the paper," she said.

First Amendment experts were critical of the seizure.

"This is a terrible lesson in civics," University of Tennessee journalism professor Dwight Teeter said. "This is an issue about the administration wanting to have control. Either the students are going to have a voice, or you're going to have a PR rag for the administration."



I have a copy of the "forbidden article" that i will either scan or type up later.

[Zeo]

Overpopulationistic pinko commie bastards.

[Coor]

Happened at my school...well sorrt of. They tried to expell me, but that lasted about half an hour once my Dad showed up...

[Arkady]

Wow, I didnt know Wanda was still teaching there. She was there when I attended.

[DarkVader]

By all means, reprint the censored articles here.

We're not going to be censored by any school principals.

[Bigun]

Bwahahahahaa!! Too laughable...

At my *Junior* high nearly 10 years ago there were pregnant teens in my class. Why the *FUCK* are they trying to censor ways to prevent this? Makes no sense. I hope the article included abstinence as a form of it as well.

[junkie christ]

At my *Junior* high nearly 10 years ago there were pregnant teens in my class. Why the *FUCK* are they trying to censor ways to prevent this? .

ditto here too.
i dont know, but i dont care seeing as how that was over a decade ago and i have no kids.

[Arkady]

At my *Junior* high nearly 10 years ago there were pregnant teens in my class. Why the *FUCK* are they trying to censor ways to prevent this? .

ditto here too.
i dont know, but i dont care seeing as how that was over a decade ago and i have no kids.

That's especially stupid seeing as Sex Education classes do teach kids how to use condoms. Or am I wrong?

[B_Ko]

By all means, reprint the censored articles here.

We're not going to be censored by any school principals.

I'll have it up as soon as i get someone else to type it.[/list][/quote]

[Hardcoregirl]

Yeah thats retarded.

I went to Oak Ridge schools and was having sex at 13, and had my son at 14. I wasn't the only one having sex, and I wasn't the only teen mom.

Morons.

I'd be more upset over the tattoos/piercings thing as a mom, because I don't want my son making a stupid choice before he's old enough to make a good decision about it. I waited til I was like 23 I guess to get a piercing because I wanted to do something I'd not grow out of. Kids getting tattoos is how people end up with bad ink or smurfs on their asses.

[Bigun]

Kids getting tattoos is how people end up with bad ink or smurfs on their asses.

^^

The image alone is funnier than hell.

[iblis]

I'd be more upset over the tattoos/piercings thing as a mom, because I don't want my son making a stupid choice before he's old enough to make a good decision about it.

more upset over a tattoo than than finding out that he's gotten some random chick pregnant?

just asking for clarification here..

[Hardcoregirl]

I'd be more upset over the tattoos/piercings thing as a mom, because I don't want my son making a stupid choice before he's old enough to make a good decision about it.

more upset over a tattoo than than finding out that he's gotten some random chick pregnant?

just asking for clarification here..

I'm saying that I am completely behind them publishing the article on contraceptives, but a bit understanding of the administration/parents views on the tattoos/piercings article...

[moonstone84]

I knew that the area was slightly conservative, but...

My High School paper sold ad space to Family Planning, had articles about all the newest trends (from fishnets to lobe stretching), and even had a matchup game with photos of students/faculty and photographs of their inked body art. I think my favorite article they ever published was one teacher's memoir of when he rode his motorcycle from the atlantic coast to the pacific coast and back in 72 hours, in which he alluded to but did not specifically state chemical assistance.

::shrug:: and my school district had more cows than people, wild "hemp" grew amongst the corn rows, and we got days off of school for hunting season and county fairs.

[B_Ko]

I knew that the area was slightly conservative, but...

My High School paper sold ad space to Family Planning, had articles about all the newest trends (from fishnets to lobe stretching), and even had a matchup game with photos of students/faculty and photographs of their inked body art. I think my favorite article they ever published was one teacher's memoir of when he rode his motorcycle from the atlantic coast to the pacific coast and back in 72 hours, in which he alluded to but did not specifically state chemical assistance.

::shrug:: and my school district had more cows than people, wild "hemp" grew amongst the corn rows, and we got days off of school for hunting season and county fairs.

wicked cool.

[miz kitty]

In my graduating class of 303 people, there were 26 students (male and female) who had children, two of them had two kids each. We actually had a very extensive sex ed class and a fairly liberal newspaper (I was newspaper photographer for two years). There was a big push by a religious group in Blount County to teach abstinance only. Imagine how bad the problem would have been if they had only taught abstinance as a method of birth control. Scary. I thought Oak Ridge was at least as progressive as the sticks where I grew up. Interesting.