One day, students in St. Louis’ Hazelwood East High School’s Journalism II class “wrote stories about their peers’ experiences with teen pregnancy and the impact of divorce” and published them in the school-funded newspaper, The Spectrum. However, Hazelwood East’s principal deleted the students’ work without their consent prior to publication, according to the “United States Courts.” The students took their case to the U.S. district court for the Eastern District of Missouri in St. Louis, claiming that the school violated their First Amendment rights, which protect “freedom of speech, the press, assembly, and the right to petition the Government for a redress of grievances,” as stated by the “White House.” However, the court ruled that the school had the jurisdiction to remove articles that were written as part of a class. 

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit reversed the lower court when the students appealed, deeming that the paper was a public forum that reached others outside the school. It ruled that in extreme circumstances, school officials could censor the content. When the school appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, in a 5-3 ruling, the court concluded that the principal’s actions did not violate the students’ right to free speech due to the paper being sponsored by the school and how the paper was not intended for a public forum but rather a limited forum for the students’ Journalism II class.

The recently-adopted New Voices legislation mitigates the impact of the 1988 Hazelwood v. Kuhlmeier Supreme Court decision by prohibiting censorship of high school and college media except in very specific circumstances, protects advisers who refuse to violate their students’ free press rights from retaliation, and requires school districts to have a written student free expression policy. 

Up until now, 16 states have passed laws that protect the First Amendment rights of student journalists, according to the Student Press Law Center (SPLC).

With Student Freedom Day occurring on the 23 of February, it is important for school districts to acknowledge the importance of allowing students to pursue their truths, inspire others and display their passions through writing articles that represent their school community. 

The theme this year for Student Press Freedom Day is “Bold Journalism and Brave Advocacy.” Student journalists across the nation fight for their right to report on real-life events so that their communities can get a student’s point of view on the events occurring in our country. Not only does student journalism highlight the thoughts and opinions of the students in the district, but the work also represents the school district as a whole and demonstrates how powerful and encouraging their viewpoints can be. Because student journalists’ rights are limited across the country, the Student Press Law Center, a.k.a. the nonprofit organization that initiated the holiday, decided it was time for students to be bold and advocate for their rights as journalists against the obstacles that stand in their way of reporting.

According to the “Student Press Freedom” organization, one of the main goals for this year’s theme is for students to step out of their comfort zones and report on important issues both within and outside of their communities. Whether these issues are more or less controversial than previous articles, if the student feels the need to report on them, they’re getting published. Some of the reasons as to why this day is important are for students to start feeling comfortable exposing fraud and disorganization in their communities, holding the school’s decision-makers accountable and boosting the coverage of historical figures on the verge of erasure. 

Here at Rancocas Valley, the student journalists love to report on events and topics they’re passionate about, and luckily they have yet to face much backlash for the content they’re pushing out. The Holly Spirit’s articles will forever be embedded in the internet and present the public and the future with the opinions and beliefs of the students in RV’s community. Without journalism, our writings would only be seen by teachers to be graded rather than observed and admired by the public. 

Student Press Freedom Day needs to be known and acknowledged by the lawmakers and powerful figures in this nation, and our rights as journalists will be granted soon enough.