Wellsville students deserve reality of unrestricted press

Wellsville School District officials have done the right thing in doing nothing.

They have chosen not to tread the path of censorship against the student newspaper. The other choice would have been a very bad lesson, indeed, in government, law and free speech for the students.

A bit of a ruckus arose when students chose to cover a story outside the school. It was a story about a Wellsville man arrested on suspicion of various drug-related offenses, including child endangerment.

Such issues — involving the safety of the community and young people — are of very real importance to the student body. The school does not live in a vacuum and should not pretend it does.

Addressing and dealing with real issues and real risks, in fact, is a vital part of a high school student’s education. It will be a short time indeed when these same students will be expected to know how to deal with such issues outside the confines of school walls.

The student journalists involved can be commended for encouraging awareness on the parts of their peers.

It’s always tempting for people with power to use it to tell others what to say or to think. The damage from that course of action is almost always worse than the feared damage of allowing others to speak or write.

The American system recognizes this. Outside the clear and present danger to others posed by such actions as yelling “fire” in a crowded theater, speech is protected against prior restraint and punishment.

The Supreme Court specifically noted in the case Tinker v. Des Moines: “It can hardly be argued that either students or teachers shed their constitutional rights to freedom of speech or expression at the schoolhouse gate.”

It is possible the furor over the article will have a chilling effect on future articles by the students because they might be intimidated or discouraged. That would be too bad because that, too, is a form of censorship.

The correct role for administrators and teachers is similar to that of a driving instructor. Let the student drive with advice and guidance and interrupt only when applying the instructor-side brake to avert real danger.

In the case of student journalists, this would be such problems as libel or something that would disrupt the educational process of the school, which would, in fact, be very hard to show.

All involved have behaved well in this case.

Let’s hope the future holds more of the same.