The Virginia General Assembly recently commended the staff of Theogony, the student newspaper of Alexandria City High School, for their efforts to defend press freedom.
Resolution HJ 196 honors the students for their months-long campaign that fended off their school district’s attempt to curtail their independence and eventually secured greater protections in a new district-wide policy. Their advocacy earned them the 2025 Courage in Student Journalism Award from the Student Press Law Center and the National Scholastic Press Association.
“We are really grateful that our state legislature took this step, especially when locally, our school district had a hard time doing so,” said James Libresco, one of Theogony’s past editors-in-chief. “It’s nice to see that our elected officials care about such an important cause.”
Rep. Kirk McPike, a former student journalist, introduced HJ 196 on March 2, with several other representatives and one state senator joining as co-sponsors. The resolution passed the House on March 9 and the Senate on March 11.
Starting in 2024, Theogony student journalists investigated multiple stories within their school district, including the removal of administrators and transportation delays, with the goal of highlighting the impact of controversial actions on the school community.
Following those investigations, district officials ordered administrators to begin reviewing stories expected to generate a “high level of interest,” diverging from their prior practice of respecting the journalists’ editorial independence. They proposed a new district policy that formalized a strict editing and review process.
Concerned that these changes would inevitably lead to censorship, Theogony student leadership proposed a policy of their own, Voices Unbound, which was drafted in collaboration with the Student Press Law Center and modeled after the New Voices movement. After the district originally rejected all 12 of their policy recommendations, the students launched an advocacy campaign, speaking at board meetings and garnering national press coverage.
Libresco, now a first-year student at Brown University, said that students rallied community support, alongside the support of local and state-level political figures, to “force” the school district to take a second look at the proposed policy.
In December, after several months of conversations, the district adopted an updated student media policy that gave the students almost everything they asked for, Libresco said.
The new policy provides protections for both the media adviser and student journalists. The types of speech that may be censored are consistent with the exceptions within a New Voices law, and importantly, the policy reverses the board’s previous attempts to curb reporting on controversial topics.
The board, however, is still listed as the publisher of any school-sponsored media — a common misunderstanding about student media — and the adviser is listed as a co-editor.
SPLC Staff Attorney Jonathan Gaston-Falk said the new policy is an improvement over the board’s prior proposal, but it also shows why Virginia should pass a New Voices law to cement press freedom protections for the state’s students.
“The significant support for these student journalists when their rights were at risk shows just how important their work is, not just for their school but their entire community,” Gaston-Falk said. “We are thrilled that Theogony can continue that work under this new policy. At the same time, naming school employees as publishers or co-editors is problematic, and we will continue working with the students to ensure their rights are respected. It is time for the Virginia General Assembly to pass legislation so future Theogony students, and other students in the Commonwealth, won’t have to face similar battles.”
Rozalia Finkelstein, Theogony’s current co-editor-in-chief, said she hopes that the Virginia legislature’s resolution will prompt a resurgence of the New Voices movement in the state.
The students are looking to introduce a New Voices bill during the 2027 legislative session, Libresco said.
“We really hope that they put their money where their mouth is, so to speak, next year when we introduce our New Voices bill,” he said. “When you support a resolution like this, it’s really important that you turn your words into action and actually enshrine legislation to protect student journalists.”