Spectrum was written and edited by the Journalism II class at Hazelwood
East High School. In 1988, the Supreme Court decided that the principal at Hazelwood East had the right to censor the school newspaper.

Megan Potter said she "pretty much" writes anything she wants at her school paper at American Heritage School in Ft. Lauderdale. (Mark Hartogsohn photo)

   Since the court's decision each school has taken their own stance on how much censoring occurs in their newspapers. Many students are on newspaper staffs where they are given free reign in the making of their stories.
   "We pretty much write anything we want to write about," said Megan Potter, a student at American Heritage School in Ft. Lauderdale.
   Even Potter's paper, though, has had stories pulled from it pages by administrators who disapproved of the content.
   Many schools seem to be very supportive of their school newspaper staffs. These staffs are allowed to write on controversial subjects. Guns, violence, sex and drugs, all these topics are explored and written about at great depth. Students are expected, however, to know when a story is tasteless and should not be run.
   "Once a story idea has been approved it's allowed to be written. As long as its not libel and has all the facts it will be in the paper," explained Eve Kappler, advisor of the newspaper at Boca Raton High School.
   At most schools, principals and other administrators have the right to preview the school newspaper. If they find articles they don't like or don't approve of the administrator has the right to ask the newspaper to change the article or to simply remove the article. Some administrators forgo this right to preview while other administrators are adamant in viewing the paper before print.
   While some newspapers enjoy the freedom of lenient administrators, not everyone is quite so lucky.
   "Our principal is kind of strict, so we like to stay out of controversy," says Elizabeth Williamson, a student at Colonial High School in Orlando.
   A story about a new club for gays and lesbians at Colonial HS called "Reflections" was spotlighted in an article. The principal saw the article in the paper and decided that the page containing the article had to be ripped from each copy.
   Though the Hazelwood decision allows stories to be censored, it does maintain that an administration has to have a reasonable cause to censor. The First Amendment is still withheld in schools. However, administrators try to keep controversial issues from becoming a disruption in the classroom. Censoring can be more rampant in some areas than others. Most students are expected to know where the line is and to not cross that line.