District Sponsored
Students’ First Amendment rights to freedom of expression and equal protection of the law will be observed regarding district-sponsored student publications. The observance of these rights must be balanced against the legitimate needs of the educational process.
Some student publications, such as yearbooks and school newspapers, may be educational devices developed as part of the curriculum to benefit primarily those who compile, edit and publish them. Staff advisors will be assigned to guide students engaged in these activities. Any commercial advertisements in such publications will conform to Board policy and administrative regulation.
Students may be required to submit publications for approval prior to distribution. When approval is required, school administrators must make available to students the standards which will be used to determine granting or denying permission to publish. Such guidelines will be specific and will be directed toward ascertaining which publications will cause substantial disruption of district activities or contain libelous or obscene content.
Prior restraints will contain precise criteria which spell out what is prohibited. A definite, brief time limit will be set within which school officials must approve or disapprove distribution. To be valid, these guidelines must prescribe a procedure for appeals from students.
All Publications
It will be the responsibility of local school administrators to develop and circulate reasonable and specific rules setting forth the time, manner and place in which distribution of student publications may occur. Students who become subject to discipline for failure to comply with distribution rules will be granted procedural due process rights.
END OF POLICY
Hazelwood Sch. Dist. v. Kuhlmeier, 484 U.S. 260 (1988).