High School Newspaper Adviser Dismissed After Censorship Dispute |
| The contract of a journalism teacher, hired
two years ago to start a journalism program at Southern High School in Baltimore, was not
renewed. This followed a temporary shutdown of the student newspaper by its staff this
spring because of a dispute with the principal over its content. No reason was given for the dismissal of Tara N. Williams. School officials do not have to provide one for "provisional" teachers, who have no permanent teaching credentials. Williams believes she is being let go because of the controversy that has surrounded the school’s newspaper, The Bulldog, for the past several months. Williams served as the faculty adviser for that publication and has been critical of Southern Principal Thomas Stephens’ handling of the situation. Stephens objected to the February issue of The Bulldog, which contained criticism of the school system’s plan to turn Southern into a technology magnet school next fall. After the issue came out, Stephens called Williams into the office and later said that future issues couldn’t be published without his approval. The March issue, whose front page showed a student holding a sign saying, "I’ve Been Censored" and which contained articles describing chaotic, unsafe, and unsanitary conditions at the school, was not sanctioned by the administration and was circulated unofficially. Williams said she and her students preferred not to publish the newspaper at all if they couldn’t publish what they wanted. No issues were published in April and May. Anne Carusi, the school system’s head of high schools, said that Stephens never forced the students to shut down the paper. He objected not because the school was negatively portrayed, she said, but because the content "wasn’t balanced" and because it contained inaccuracies. - excerpted from The Sun |
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