New Calif. Law Protects Student Newspaper Advisers

High school and college newspaper advisers are now protected from retaliation by school administrators under a new California law, the Los Angeles Times reports.

The Journalism Teacher Protection Act, which became law with the new year, bars administrators from retaliating against advisers when their students publish stories the administrators don't like.

California already had a law in place that ensured free speech rights for students. But there was no protection for journalism advisers. This created a situation in which school administrators could effectively censor student papers by firing or reassigning advisers, the Times reports.

Jim Ewert, legal counsel for the California Newspaper Publishers Association, tells the Times that in the last three years, at least 15 high school journalism advisers have lost their jobs or been reassigned by administrators who were angry about critical stories.

For example, journalism adviser Janet Ewell was reassigned in 2002 after her students at Rancho Alamitos High School in Garden Grove wrote editorials criticizing filthy bathrooms and bad cafeteria food.

The law protects any school employee from being reassigned or losing a job merely for helping ensure free speech.

Only one other state, Kansas, has a similar law. Too bad. The California law should be a model for every state in the nation. What are high school and college journalism students being taught about that most American of freedoms, freedom of the press, when their teachers face retaliation simply for allowing students to publish critical, investigative stories?

Read more about the California law and the perils student newspaper advisers face here.