The principal of Kentucky high school “spiked” one of the school newspaper’s issues and “confiscated 600 copies” of the May 20 edition less than half an hour after the newspaper was distributed, the Associated Press reported.
Heath High School principal Jon Reid reportedly explained that the newspaper featured “sensitive issues” and no “adult” oversaw the edition’s production.
Reid reportedly commented that two seniors at the school “visited the guidance counselor’s office in tears barely five minutes after the papers went out that day”
One of the three seniors responsible for the edition, Sarah Quarles, called the principal’s actions “offensive,” according to the AP. Likewise, Student Press Law Center’s attorney advocate, Adam Goldstein, described the principal’s seizure both “unfair” and “illegal.”
“The idea that something that can be disruptive in a way that nobody but the principal notices is laughable. It doesn’t even approach what the legal standard is.”
The school district’s public relations director, Molly Goodman, defended the principal’s actions, noting that a state law permits the principal to “take any action he believes would prevent the disruption of the educational process,” the Associated Press reported.