What began as an investigative article in a Northern Nevada high school newspaper has turned into a First Amendment issue for one young reporter.
Lauren Mac Lean, a 17-year-old senior at Churchill County High School in Fallon, wrote an article on allegations parents made about a music teacher withholding student audition tapes for the Nevada Music Educators Association Honor/All State Choir program, a prestigious state competition for aspiring student musicians.
The local teachers union filed a grievance with the principal and the Churchill County School District superintendent attempting to block publication of the article, claiming it would harm the teacher’s employment and could deprive her “of any professional advantage without just cause.”
The article is scheduled to be published in Friday’s edition of the school’s newspaper, The Flash. In Nevada, a principal has the authority to decide whether an article will run unless the school board or superintendent say otherwise, school officials said.
I guess I never really thought about it, but I never really thought that a student newspaper was a ‘real’ newspaper, and because of that, they were subject to whatever the teachers approved or edited.