Chicago Tribune report documents pattern of increasing court support for curtailing of student free speech by public school administrators
Amid the rush at the end of the school year, Linda Kane's reassignment at Naperville Central High School looks like little more than a routine staff shuffle.
After serving as student newspaper adviser for 19 years, when she moved
the Central Times from life support to national prominence, Kane is
leaving that role.
But it isn't voluntary. She was fired as adviser effective Thursday,
the last day of school, although she will continue to teach.
Experts are adamant that losses like hers reverberate and are much more
foreboding. The disagreement that led to Kane's dismissal stemmed from
some controversial articles on drug use among students, and experts say
her firing is part of a growing trend toward censorship in high
schools, a trend that erodes citizenship, even chips away at democracy
in important--if almost imperceptible--ways.
"I think anybody who's been involved in this issue for any length of
time can tell you that there are more censorship conflicts today than
at any other time," said Mark Goodman of Kent State University.
No one is keeping score, but Goodman and other 1st Amendment advocates
say anecdotal evidence, court rulings and surveys of high school
students clearly show a constricting of the students' free speech.
Leave a comment