Montana high school newspaper recalled after printing topless photos
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Jill Valley, KPAX
MISSOULA, Montana — Missoula County Public Schools administrators say semi-nude images published in a recent issue of a student newspaper violated school district policy.
Last week’s issue of the Willard Wire contained topless photos of males and females to accompany articles in the paper.
MCPS Spokeswoman Hatton Littman says the articles written about the ‘Free the Nipple’ campaign were well-reasoned, but the use of photos of partially nude women perceived to be students violated district policy.
In an email, MCPS says:
“The January issue of the Willard Wire, released on Friday, January 22, 2016, included an editorial titled Free the Nipple accompanied by a photo of a topless woman and a man. An additional photo of several topless women and men appeared on the cover.
A separate piece within the editorial section, Misconceptions SLAMMED, an article without attribution, used lewd and vulgar language referencing sexual acts to form an argument in support of public breastfeeding.
All student publications are governed by Board Policy 3221. The Willard Wire is published by students attending the Journalism class at the Willard Alternative High School Program and is directly linked to district curriculum. In addition, the Willard Wire is a district-funded publication and is therefore covered by the board policy. MCPS curriculum standards extend to those actively taking courses where publications are produced as well as the student audiences for the publications.
The publication of the photographs of partially nude women perceived to be students, as well as the lewd and vulgar language referencing sexual acts violates MCPS Board Policy 3221 “Publications and Distribution or Posting of Materials.” …
“MCPS supports student voices and student exploration of challenging topics handled with respect to standards for civil and mature discourse,” commented MCPS Superintendent Mark Thane. “On a daily basis, our teachers work with students to develop critical thinking skills and explore challenging topics in a way that can further understanding and avoid polarization or discrimination.”
While student speech has First Amendment protection, the protection is different than that offered outside of a school. Legal precedent in Tinker, Fraser and Hazelwood clearly supports these decisions and the right of schools and the District to maintain the culture of the learning environment and support speech in student publications that aligns with the District’s curriculum.
“The proper administrative or teacher response in these circumstances would be to delay the printing or not allowing the printing until the language can be corrected and the photos can be edited or replaced,” stated Thane. “Those actions were not taken by the teacher of the course nor the principal.”
The district also says the Willard principal and teacher didn’t properly edit the issue before it went to print.
MCPS says they have recalled every issue and the Superintendent is asking the student journalists of the Willard Wire revise the paper.