Recent articles in Mountain View High School’s student newspaper, The Oracle, about sex have created controversy in the surrounding community, but school district administrators are backing the paper.
Author: kaitlin-tipsword
Online student news site sues University of Central Florida for access to records, meetings
A student-run online news organization at the University of Central Florida has filed a lawsuit against the school alleging violations of Florida’s public records and open meetings laws.
Arizona legislators propose constitutional “loyalty oath” to graduate high school
“I, ______, do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic, that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge these duties; so help me God.”High school students in the state of Arizona would be required to recite the above oath before graduating if a proposed bill is passed. The bill is an effort to “encourage our high school students to take an active interest in what our Constitution is,” bill co-sponsor Rep.
Indiana legislature reconsiders cyberbullying bill
Sitting in an Indiana House committee is a revised and less stringent version of an “anti-cyberbullying” bill that First Amendment advocates helped kill last year.
Proposed Indiana law would fine students for making fake social media profiles of teachers
Two Indiana legislators have introduced a bill that would allow for legal action against students and parents who harass school employees online.
After 25 years, impact of Hazelwood on student journalism is mixed, experts say
As editor of her sixth-grade newspaper, Lucy Dalglish, the dean of the University of Maryland’s journalism school, said she learned an important lesson from her father about the First Amendment.
Back in session, state lawmakers introduce new legislation on cyberbullying
With the start of a new legislative session in many statehouses, cyberbullying has reappeared on the radar this month.Legislators in four states have all proposed bills that either amend the definition of "bullying" or require school boards to implement policy regarding cyberbullying and other forms of harassment.States with pending legislation on issues of bullying and cyberbullying include:
- Alaska: A proposal to amend the state's bullying law to include electronic as well as in-person communications.
- New Mexico: Another proposal to include cyberbullying as a form of bullying, as well as a requirement for school boards to implement a "cyberbullying prevention policy" by August 2013.
- New York: A proposal to revise the state's newly enacted 2012 cyberbullying law to define cyberbullying as "a repeated course of communication, or repeatedly causing a communication to be sent, by mechanical or electronic means, posting statements on the internet or through a computer network with no legitimate communication purpose which causes alarm or serious annoyance, or is likely to cause alarm or serious annoyance."
- Virginia: Clarifies the term "bullying" and requires districts to enact anti-bullying policies not just involving student-on-student conduct but also bullying of school employees by other employees.