Stevenson HS newspaper

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A series of stories in Trib concerning the school newspaper at Stevenson


Stevenson High School officials halt publication of student newspaper, the Statesman
Administrators didn't like 3 stories about honor students smoking and drinking, teen pregnancy, and shoplifting



By Dan Simmons Tribune reporter

Administrators at Stevenson High School in Lincolnshire spiked Friday's edition of the school's award-winning newspaper because of concerns about stories on drinking and smoking by honor students, teen pregnancy, and shoplifting, the editor said.

Advocates of press freedom bashed the decision to halt publication.

"It is irresponsible to withhold this information so they can protect their fantasy image of Stevenson as a place where no one has ever gotten pregnant or shoplifted," said Frank LoMante, executive director of the Virginia-based Student Press Law Center.

The paper's faculty advisers, Matt Lockowitz and Lisa Lukens, as well as the school's spokesman, Jim Conrey, did not return phone messages Thursday.

The ban is the latest rift between administrators and student journalists for the Statesman, regarded as one of the premier student newspapers in Illinois and the nation. Concerns about content last year led to the resignation of the paper's faculty adviser, Barbara Thill.

In the most recent incident, administrators on the paper's review board warned editor Pam Selman, a senior, not to submit a front-page story by senior managing editor Evan Ribot about students in the National Honor Society and freshmen mentors program.

In it, two students, quoted anonymously, admitted to drinking and smoking, which are prohibited under the society's no-use contract.

The administrators warned that they would ask for the students' names and potentially take disciplinary action against them, Selman said.

Rather than revealing their sources, the paper's staff decided to submit a blank front page to the board on Tuesday, she said, with a note to readers about why the story wasn't there.

On Wednesday, the paper's advisers told staff the administrative review board had problems with the blank front page -- plus the pregnancy and shoplifting stories -- and would spike the issue. Administrators said the teen pregnancy story lacked balance, Selman said.

The story by Selman quoted a boy and girl at the school who are expecting a child together, she said. The school has seen an increase in student pregnancies this year, Selman said.

LoMante is advising the paper on its legal options and was given copies of all three stories the administration deemed unfit for print.

"They are balanced, responsible and mild," he said. "They carry positive messages: Don't shoplift, and get counseling if you get pregnant."

The paper's staffers on Friday will greet students by the entrances, as they usually do when the paper comes out every third or fourth week, Ribot said.

But instead of saying "Take a Statesman," they will be saying, "Sorry, no paper today" and explaining why.

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Stevenson High School: Students say district forced them to publish paper


By William Lee Tribune reporter

November 25, 2009

Less than a week after administrators at Stevenson High School in Lincolnshire halted the release of the student newspaper because of stories dealing with drinking, smoking and teen pregnancy, staff members said they were told they had less than two hours to produce a paper without the controversial stories, or receive failing grades.

The staff members said they were not allowed to remove their bylines from the paper, which they said was sloppily put together and rushed to printers.

"We had no time to do it. It was sloppy. It was gross. It's not what we do," said Stevenson senior and staff writer Stephanie Glassberg. "It's not our paper anymore, it's the administration's paper."

Statesman Editor-in-Chief Pam Selman said the paper's staff was given the option to move past the November issue and concentrate on next month's issue, something the administration denied saying.

Newspaper staff members said they felt forced and threatened to put out an inferior product.

District 125 spokesman Jim Conrey said the administration never intended to stop publication of the paper. "We never said we were not going to publish the November issue. We said the issue was being delayed to provide more time for editing and layout," Conrey said.

Free-speech advocates criticized the administrators Tuesday.

"This is certainly one of the more outlandish abuses of power we've ever seen by a school administration," said Frank LoMante, executive director of the Student Press Law Center. "You'd be hard-pressed to find a more blatant violation of the First Amendment than what Stevenson has done today."

The controversy centered on several stories slated to run in last Friday's paper. In one, two National Honor Society students, quoted anonymously, admitted to drinking and smoking, which are prohibited under the society's no-use contract. Newspaper staff members said they have secured free legal counsel.

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Student newspaper is less controversial and a lot leaner
Stevenson High School edition hits halls without objectionable content


By Dan Simmons Tribune reporter

November 26, 2009

Students at Stevenson High School in Lincolnshire got a slimmer, less controversial edition of the school newspaper on Wednesday after staffers were told to publish without two stories that drew objections from school administrators.

Some readers weren't happy. Student journalists were outraged.

"I think it's dumb," Sam Less, a junior and fan of the Statesman, said of administration efforts to tone down the paper's content. "I think the paper's really funny and I enjoy reading it."

The latest edition was halted last week over administrators' concern about articles on smoking and drinking by honor students, teen pregnancy and shoplifting.

Staff members said they were told Tuesday morning that they had less than two hours to produce the paper -- without the controversial stories -- or they would fail the journalism class. The demand took the staffers by surprise because it followed a meeting Monday with administrators and Editor Pam Selman, Managing Editor Evan Ribot and the students' parents.

"It just blew my mind on Tuesday that the administration disregarded everything said in that meeting," said Phil Selman, the editor's father. "As a parent, I felt lied to."

On Wednesday, the paper appeared in bins throughout the school about 10:25 a.m. The stories about drinking and smoking by honor students and about teen pregnancy were not in the paper. But the story about shoplifting was in the paper.

The issue shrank from its standard 16 pages to 12 because of the cuts, Pam Selman said.

"It was sloppy. It was gross. It's not what we do," said Stevenson senior and staff writer Stephanie Glassberg.

District 125 spokesman Jim Conrey said Tuesday that last week's action by administrators was done only to provide more time.

"We never said we were not going to publish the November issue," he said. "We said the issue was being delayed to provide more time for editing and layout."

Tribune reporter William Lee contributed to this report

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Trib editorial on the matter

Muzzling students


November 26, 2009

The last time student journalists at Stevenson High School ruffled the school's administration, all 3,400 issues of the Statesman disappeared from the campus before students arrived for classes. This time, administrators stopped the presses.

Officials at the Lincolnshire school balked at publishing a story about drinking and smoking by honor students. In a written statement, school officials said the article "featuring anonymous sources discussing illegal activity was not fit for print." Student editors wanted to leave the front page blank, except for a note explaining that the story intended for that spot had been yanked. Administrators wouldn't allow it.

The Nov. 20 edition went to press five days late and four pages light, under heavy protest by staffers. The teen drinking story was spiked, along with another piece about teen pregnancy. Students wanted to remove their bylines or include an editorial explaining what happened, but administrators said no.

"It was sloppy. It was gross. It's not what we do," said staff writer Stephanie Glassberg, a senior. "It's not our paper anymore; it's the administration's paper."

School officials have maintained that their actions are "no different than what occurs in professional newsrooms around the country every day."

That's a bogus comparison.

A high school newsroom isn't a professional newsroom. It's a laboratory in which aspiring journalists learn about news gathering and publishing with help from adult advisers who answer to school administrators who catch a lot of hell from parents. That explains why so many student papers are filled with news about the homecoming dance and the German Club pretzel sale.

A good high school paper -- and the Statesman is widely recognized as one of the nation's best -- regularly covers issues that make administrators squirm. Often the administration is a player in the story, directly or indirectly. That's why school officials should keep their hands off the students' copy.

Yes, administrators should make sure that student journalists act responsibly. But from everything we've seen, the student journalists at Stevenson do just that.

Stevenson's administrators seem to think their interference is comparable to the editing process at a professional newspaper.

But professional newspapers don't shirk from controversial stories. They don't forward the names of anonymous sources to the police, either. Most newspapers -- including the Statesman -- occasionally use anonymous quotes, if reporter and editor agree that the source is credible and the information is essential. Statesman editors refused to share the names of the teens quoted in the drinking story with administrators who said they'd be obligated to report the illegal activity to parents or legal authorities.

Threatening to "out" the sources knocked the legs out from under the teen drinking story and anything like it in the future. That's a shame. The student journalists and their readers learn a lot more from that kind of story than from sanitized coverage dictated by autocratic administrators.

There's some history behind this dust-up. The Jan. 30 Statesman -- since dubbed "the hooking up issue" -- explored the changing nature of teen dating in jaw-dropping detail. Administrators said it was irresponsible, unbalanced and lacking in news value. We saw it. We gave it five stars.

To avoid similar episodes, administrators added a "prior review panel" to vet the stories after they've been edited by students and approved by a faculty adviser. By the end of the year, adviser Barbara Thill -- who coached the Statesman staff to a National Scholastic Press Association Pacemaker Award, the Pulitzer Prize of high school journalism -- had stepped aside under immense pressure.

Thill was replaced by a team of advisers who function more as goalkeepers, trying to avoid anything that might touch off another smack down by thin-skinned administrators. Let's be clear: This is not how it works "in professional newsrooms around the country."

School officials insist they're not trying to water down the editorial content of the Statesman, but that's exactly what they've done. This isn't editing, it's censorship.