"The Hazelwood Decision"

The Hazelwood decision is a hot topic right now for many reasons. After the deadly school shooting in Parkland, Florida many students decided they had enough with easy gun laws and decided to express their first amendment rights in the form of a walk out in peaceful protest. The first amendment also includes the right to free speech which brings us to "The Hazelwood Decision". In 1988 the Supreme Court rules that students were subject to a lower level of 1st amendment rights. This was brought to court by students who wrote for their high school newspaper. The student wrote articles about teen pregnancy, birth control, and sexual activity. The principal of the school believed that this was inappropriate because although, not named, the pregnancy article could "call out" the students that were pregnant. Also, he believed the birth control and sexual activity articles were inappropriate for the younger student. Based on these beliefs he removed two pages from the newspaper itself. Students did not take this lightly and accused the school of revoking their freedom of speech rights. I believe he principal of our school prohibiting the airing of a certain new story from airing on NHS Update would 100% be a violation of our First Amendment rights. As journalists we look for stories sometimes that do hit very close to home for some people and it is our job as reporters to show the school and our town what is happening inside the walls of NHS and within the town lines of Norwood as a whole. This is what we are taught to do. We report what matters and what impacts student, teachers, and residents of Norwood. Whether or not it is deemed as inappropriate or not, if it matters to people, then it should and will be aired.