CUSDWatch Comment

California Education Code 48907

(a) Pupils of the public schools, including charter schools, shall have the right to exercise freedom of speech and of the press including, but not limited to, the use of bulletin boards, the distribution of printed materials or petitions, the wearing of buttons, badges, and other insignia, and the right of expression in official publications, whether or not the publications or other means of expression are supported financially by the school or by use of school facilities, except that expression shall be prohibited which is obscene, libelous, or slanderous. Also prohibited shall be material that so incites pupils as to create a clear and present danger of the commission of unlawful acts on school premises or the violation of lawful school regulations, or the substantial disruption of the orderly operation of the school.

(b) The governing board or body of each school district or charter school and each county board of education shall adopt rules and regulations in the form of a written publications code, which shall include reasonable provisions for the time, place, and manner of conducting such activities within its respective jurisdiction.

(c) Pupil editors of official school publications shall be responsible for assigning and editing the news, editorial, and feature content of their publications subject to the limitations of this section. However, it shall be the responsibility of a journalism adviser or advisers of pupil publications within each school to supervise the production of the pupil staff, to maintain professional standards of English and journalism, and to maintain the provisions of this section.

(d) There shall be no prior restraint of material prepared for official school publications except insofar as it violates this section. School officials shall have the burden of showing justification without undue delay prior to a limitation of pupil expression under this section.

(e) “Official school publications” refers to material produced by pupils in the journalism, newspaper, yearbook, or writing classes and distributed to the student body either free or for a fee.

(f) This section does not prohibit or prevent the governing board or body of a school district or charter school from adopting otherwise valid rules and regulations relating to oral communication by pupils upon the premises of each school.

(g) An employee shall not be dismissed, suspended, disciplined, reassigned, transferred, or otherwise retaliated against solely for acting to protect a pupil engaged in the conduct authorized under this section, or refusing to infringe upon conduct that is protected by this section, the First Amendment to the United States Constitution, or Section 2 of Article I of the California Constitution.

(Amended by Stats. 2010, Ch. 142, Sec. 2. (SB 438) Effective January 1, 2011.)

San Juan Hills High School Express News Controversy

Was the Subject of a Special CUSD Board Meeting February 14, 2018

Board Agenda

Board Audio at 0:00:00

Board Audio at 0:00:24 PUBLIC COMMENTS 

San Juan Hills High School Express News Article "Relationships & Sex in High School"

Is the school newspaper an appropriate venue for an expose on Relationships & Sex in High School that feature headlines like "Popping the Cherry of the Virginity Myth" and "Do I look Slutty?" and "Let's Talk about sex, baby...

Board Audio at 0:00:24 Sally White- President of the CUEA (Teachers Union) spoke on behalf of the Teacher/Advisor that oversaw the Stallion Newspaper.

She expressed her concern about an e-mail that was sent out regarding a Face Book post regarding San Juan Hills High School Newspaper article on Relationships & Sex in High School.

She learned about it from her daughter and a friend who said that there were hundreds of angry responses on the Ladera Ranch Face Book page regarding the article and that hundreds of angry parents with pitch forks were ready to storm the school.

She met with the member. She wanted this to be resolved as quickly as possible to avoid controversy.

An investigation was initiated and a decision was made a few hours later.

Her concern.

Both the students and this advisor have been thrown under the bus while their first Amendment Rights have been down played. I was told by Staff this afternoon that this teacher who was named by the District is out on Administrative leave and that this District has already decided that he violated Board Policy. This is a confidential personnel matter. I was called and asked not to make this a public matter. To late. We are not the ones that took this public. My concern is that we now have a teachers who understands that their district and their administrators will not have their back if there is any controversy at a time when parents find controversy in everything. This does not feel like the spirit of collaboration. We would have appreciated a call BEFORE this unfortunate e-mail was sent out.

Our Member would have appreciated the due process.

Board Policy 6145.3(a)