Ford City High School senior Andrea Koleck said high school students already have a limited voice in society. Most are not of voting age. And adults generally write them off as being foolish kids with a naive view of the world. One of the few avenues students have in being heard, in expressing their opinions in an informed manner, Koleck said, is through high school newspapers. Limiting their voice by adopting restrictive changes to the state’s regulation governing student expression — something the state Board of Education is considering — is unconstitutional, she said. “By taking that away, it’s taking away (students’) rights,” said Koleck, co-editor of the Saber Script. “It shouldn’t be allowed. “Something should be done about this.” Reaction to the changes among high school editors, teachers serving as advisers to student newspapers and high school principals was mixed across the Alle-Kiski Valley. Some questioned whether the changes actually would affect how they conduct business, from students gathering information and writing stories to principals giving final approvals on content before publication. The changes being considered include: References to two U.S. Supreme Court decisions that the state School Boards Association, the organization pushing for the changes, admitted limits students’ freedom of speech. Additional wording to the current regulation that free-speech advocates argue gives principals greater latitude in eliminating stories. “I actually agree with (the changes),” said Deer Lakes senior Kayla Posney, managing editor of the DL Dispatch. “We are a high school (newspaper). Things are sensitive in high schools. We’re still technically children.” Yet Posney said the DL Dispatch attempts to address issues in every edition. That’s something, according to free-speech advocates, that could be hindered with the adoption of the changes. Koleck and editors Lynette Turko and Sarah Webster, both seniors, said the Saber Script staff typically tackles issues pertinent to students such as the dress code, violence in school and drugs. “I think (the changes) are really going to hurt what we’re able to attack,” Turko said. When the newspaper publishes such stories, the teens said, they often are praised by teachers. “I don’t think (making changes) is a good thing,” Webster said. “A school newspaper is like any other newspaper.” For some, though, the issue is cloudy. They disagree with limiting students’ freedom of speech. But they understand the state School Board Association’s argument that, in light of violence in schools across the country, administrators need a greater hand in deciding, and ultimately eliminating, stories that could pose problems in the school or community. “If you’re serious about your job, you’re going to write for freedom of speech,” said Stacy Gladysiewski Klukan, a health and physical education teacher at Ford City and adviser to the student newspaper. “I would think that would not be the best interest for writers to learn this. It’s restricting their freedoms.” But later, even Klukan said she agreed with part of the changes. “I think you do actually have to have (greater administration oversight),” she said, “due to the serious matters after 9/11.” Others were more steadfast in their stances. “I don’t feel very concerned (by the changes),” said Nancy Kuehn, a gifted-education teacher at Fox Chapel Area High School and adviser to Fox Tales for more than a quarter of a century. “Our students have a very strong, solid sense of what is acceptable (to print) and what isn’t acceptable. They don’t test those boundaries.” Coincidentally, Kuehn and Fox Chapel Area spokeswoman Bonnie Berzonski refused to name Fox Tales’ student editors or allow them to choose whether to speak on this subject. When contacted, however, one of the editors did comment, and he said he doesn’t have a problem with the proposed changes. “There may be one or two stories every now and then that don’t make the paper because they are controversial, but I don’t think in the whole scheme of things that one story is going to make a difference,” senior Cory Humes said. “Maybe others take their high school newspapers more seriously. We think it’s an outlet for students to write in a journalistic manner. “I think there are enough stories out there that aren’t going to make a ruckus.” Steve Faber, an Apollo-Ridge High School senior and entertainment editor of The Viking Voice, disagreed, saying he and other editors at the newspaper are against the changes. Koleck said the state Board of Education and school administrators should give student journalists an opportunity to try, succeed and, at times, fail. “They should trust (the job) they’ve done as teachers and educators,” Koleck said. “As long as everything is factual and true and written from an objective viewpoint, I don’t see how the truth can be a threat. “And when it is a threat, I think there could be a problem with the school. If there is a reason why a true, objective story can’t be published, there is probably a reason why.”

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