Story finally told

CONNECTICUT — Nearly three months after students at Hall High School in West Hartford learned that a science teacher was being investigated for improperly coaching students for a state science test, the student newspaper Hall Highlights has finally been allowed to publish their story.The students were only allowed to publish the story after a local newspaper ran it, said the student newspaper’s adviser, Mark Grudzien. Grudzien said principal Elaine Bessette told students in June they could not print information relating to personnel.Miro Kazakoff, who is now the editor of the paper, said the principal told students they could not write about the investigation, in effect gagging the paper. He said he felt “disappointed and frustrated” that the paper had been restricted.A story about the situation first ran in the Hartford Courant in June, one day after the student newspaper ran an editorial criticizing the decision by the school’s principal not to let the story into the student newspaper.Grudzien said that only after the school administration issued a public statement in late summer saying the teacher had resigned were the students allowed to write about the investigation in the September 3 issue of the Hall Highlights.