At the standing-room only school board meeting last night, Brittany Thomas (Editor in Chief) said that both the American Civil Liberties Union and the Student Press Law Center are working to secure lawyers for the students.
"We're still pursuing this,'' Brittany said. "They (school officials) wronged us.''
Wearing a T-shirt with the saying "Ignorance Isn't Bliss'' painted on it, Brittany joined more than a dozen other students protesting principal Becky Ervin's decision last week to seize the paper before it could be distributed to students.
First Amendment experts have universally decried the confiscation, saying the Oak Ridge student paper has a long tradition as a public forum.
This isn't the best picture, but the students in the picture are awesome. Pictured here, the students from Oak Ridge High are standing up for the First Amendment at their local school board meeting. Several students wore duct tape with the word CENSORED across their mouths at the standing-room-only school board meeting.
As we might have guessed, accurate birth control information does not appear to be available in the school's sex education course.
Students said the birth control article contained information lacking in the high school sex education class, which they ridiculed as inadequate.
School officials are especially offended because the birth control article informs students that they have a right to obtain birth control without parental consent.
But in the age of the internet, censorship ain't what it used to be. Thanks to the totalitarian actions of principal Becky Ervin and school superintendent Tom Bailey, untold numbers of kids across the country are now fully aware of their rights.
Moreover, kids and adults across the country are learning a kick-ass lesson about civil rights simply by watching the awesome students at Oak Ridge High.
Contact Info:
Principal, Becky Ervin: bervin@ortn.edu
Phone: 865-425-9601
Superintendent
Thomas E. Bailey, Ed.D.
E-mail: tbailey@ortn.edu
Phone: 865-425-9001; Fax: 865-425-9070
"Schools may not be enclaves of totalitarianism. Students and teachers do not shed their constitutional rights to freedom of expression at the schoolhouse gates." Justice Abe Fortas, Tinker v. Des Moines School Dist., 393 U.S. 503 (1969)
Previous Posts:
Ignorance Got Me Pregnant
School Censors Birth Control Information
Censorship First Amendment Birth Control Contraception Free Press Reproductive Rights
