227:(2007). A California Court of Appeal found that school unlawfully disciplined by condemning a controversial editorial as a violation of school policy and stating it should not have been published. The editorial, titled "Immigration," contained extremely controversial statements about illegal immigrants. The principal, soon after the newspaper's release, ordered that all remaining copies of the newspaper no longer distributed. Smith sued the school district, and the Marin County Superior Court ruled against him; however, the First District Court of Appeal reversed the decision, stating that Code 48907 prohibits schools from censoring speech simply "because it presents controversial ideas and opponents of the speech are likely to cause disruption."
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adopted in written form rules and regulations including reasonable provisions for the time, place, and manner in which issues of censorship may be addressed or settled. Thus, even if material falls within the realm of obscene, defamatory, illegal, or disruptive, all reasonable restrictions on school newspapers, school officials may not censor student material simply because no written school district regulations governing publications exist.
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conflict with or are critical of those of the school or the majority of the public. Following the landmark
Supreme Court ruling in Tinker v. Des Moines, which asserted that students do not lose their free speech protections in school, students are allowed a degree of freedom of expression in school, even if these rights are justifiably less than those experienced out of the classroom.
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noted, these newspapers exist mainly to teach students the elements of journalism and to supplement the language arts curriculum. However, the same advisory also noted that students have a legitimate interest in the full expression of their own ideas on topics of concern, even when those ideas are in
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An employee shall not be dismissed, suspended, disciplined, reassigned, transferred, or otherwise retaliated against solely for acting to protect a pupil engaged in the conduct authorized under this section, or refusing to infringe upon conduct that is protected by this section, the First
Amendment
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protection than independent student expression or newspapers established (by policy or practice) as forums for student expression. Ed Code 48907 affirms the right of high school newspapers to publish whatever they choose, so long as the content isn't explicitly obscene, libelous, or slanderous, and
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School authorities can only prohibit publication of stories in school newspapers if they are obscene, libelous, slanderous, or likely to incite others to commit illegal or disruptive acts. Additionally, school districts may not censor, even if the above conditions are met, if the district has not
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Students of the public schools including charter schools, shall have the right to exercise freedom of speech and of the press including, but not limited to, the use of bulletin boards, the distribution of printed materials or petitions, the wearing of buttons, badges, and other insignia, and the
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Each governing board of a school district and each county board of education shall adopt rules and regulations in the form of a written publications code, which shall include reasonable provisions for the time, place, and manner of conducting such activities within its respective jurisdiction.
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except that expression shall be prohibited which is obscene, libelous, or slanderous. Also prohibited shall be material which so incites students as to create a clear and present danger of the commission of unlawful acts on school premises or the violation of lawful school regulations, or the
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As a counter to these suppressions and as a reaction to Tinker v. Des Moines, California became the first state in the United States to enact a statutory scheme that protected the free speech rights of students. These protections were codified in
Educational Code 10611. In 1977, the California
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and the systematic lack of freedom to engage in open, responsible journalism characterize high school journalism. This study, which examined censorship issues, minority participation and journalism education, and the commercial media's involvement with scholastic journalism, also found that
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Student editors of official school publications shall be responsible for assigning and editing the news, editorial, and feature content of their publications subject to the limitations of this section. However, it shall be the responsibility of a journalism adviser or advisers of student
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There shall be no prior restraint of material prepared for official school publications except insofar as it violates this section. School officials shall have the burden of showing justification without undue delay prior to any limitation of student expression under this section.
109:(1969). In contrast with Hazelwood, which limited First Amendment protection to only those high school newspapers that had, through practice or policy, been established as forums for student expression, Ed Code 48907 affirms the right of all newspapers to the freedom of expression.
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In issues of school liability, often stemming from libel or defamation lawsuits, the majority opinion in Leeb v. DeLong 1988 stated that to impose a prior restraint requires the article to contain a "false statement ... likely to harm the reputation of
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Nothing in this section shall prohibit or prevent any governing board of a school district from adopting otherwise valid rules and regulations relating to oral communication by students upon the premises of each school.
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Additionally, Leeb v. Delong holds that a lack of "professional standards of
English and journalism" is not justification for prior restraint; post-publication responses are the only way to maintain these standards.
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Court of Appeal of the State of
California, First Appellate District, Division Five. Brief of Amici Curiae In Support of Andrew D. Smith and Dale R. Smith. < splc.org/pdf/novato_amicus.pdf>
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182:"Official school publications" refers to material produced by students in the journalism, newspaper, yearbook, or writing classes and distributed to the student body either free or for a fee.
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publications within each school to supervise the production of the student staff, to maintain professional standards of
English and journalism, and to maintain the provisions of this section.
98:. The Hazelwood v. Kuhlmeier decision held that public school curricular student newspapers that have not been established as "forums for student expression" are subject to a lower level of
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right of expression in official publications, whether or not such publications or other means of expression are supported financially by the school or by use of school facilities,
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Many public high schools provide for a school-funded newspaper, most often the product of a journalism class taken for credit. As a recent Legal News
Advisory issued by the
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doesn’t incite students to violate any laws or school regulations. The newspaper content must also pass the minimal disruption test set forth in the
Supreme Court ruling on
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Legislature rewrote this code and replaced it with
Educational Code 48907. This revision was prompted by Bright v. Los Angeles Unified School District (1976), in which the
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censorship of journalism is a matter of policy in all areas of the country despite legal protections that override such censorship. Importantly, the issue of
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Also, a school district rule which generally prohibits such potentially sensitive topics as pregnancy and divorce is not permitted by the statute.
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was found to have created passivity among students and made them cynical about the guarantees of a free press under the First
Amendment.
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http://www.splc.org/article/2008/09/press-release-student-press-law-center-hails-californias-new-journalism-teacher-protection-act
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This final paragraph of Ed. Code 48907 was a late addition to the law, signed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in September 2008.<
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California State Department of Education. Limitations on Student Expression in School-Sponsored Publications. March 4, 1988. <
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Corbett, Ellen M, Chair of Senate Judiciary Committee. Education: Journalism Teacher Protection Act. April 8, 2008. <
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to the United States Constitution, or Section 2 of Article I of the California Constitution.
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However, the 1974 study commissioned by the Robert F. Kennedy Memorial,
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This policy and Education Code 48907 was supported by the case
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substantial disruption of the orderly operation of the school.
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Leeb v. DeLong (1988) 198 Cal.App.3d 47 , 243, Cal.Rptr. 494
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found that Educational Code 10611 did not authorize
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90:(1988) Supreme Court ruling, which limited the
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325:http://www.splc.org/pdf/caldoeadvisory.pdf
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158:The main text of the Code is as follows:
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225:Smith v. Novato Unified School District
386:California Student Free Expression Law
82:California Student Free Expression Law
19:California Student Free Expression Law
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299:"SB 1370 Senate Bill - Bill Analysis"
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266:Leaming, Jeremy (January 12, 1988).
119:California Department of Education
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78:California Education Code 48907
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418:United States education law
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80:(1977), also known as the
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423:Freedom of expression law
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398:Student Press Law Center
390:Student Press Law Center
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96:high school newspapers
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106:Tinker v. Des Moines
278:on November 1, 2001
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54:State of California
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