Jersey Shore Business Journal

Students learn can’t speak that easy at OCHS

June 11, 2008

A little dust-up at Ocean City High School last week grabbed the headlines; “Students are livid about literary magazine censorship.” It sure piqued my curiosity.
After reviewing the school-sponsored literary magazine, “Speakeasy,” school principal Dr. Matthew Jamison made the appropriate decision given what was submitted. Curse words and inappropriate content were ordered removed before the literary magazine was sent to the printer.
A group of unhappy students protested, passing out stickers and T-shirts reading “First Amendment.”
The student editor of the annual magazine says the administration has stifled creativity, warning that students will lose interest and passion. Students say they have not “traditionally been censored,” that they’ve included curse words in the past. It’s not, they said, “like we’re publishing terrible things.”
One student referenced “the weight of this censorship in the fight for decency.”
Not quite; let’s try “adhering to board policy.” Knowing the difference between right and wrong, appropriate or inappropriate, perhaps “doing the right thing.” As a parent, I would be offended by curse words and inappropriate content.
We can all be thankful that even in our “anything goes” unbridled era, civility reigned; the school administration enforced the rules and said no to children; time-honored decency remains alive and well at our hometown high school.
The students are leaning on the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States, guaranteeing free speech, critically important to the survival of our nation, but best kept in perspective.
According to the Department of State, freedom of speech and expression is “the lifeblood of any democracy.” Democratic governments do not control the content of most written and verbal speech, thus democracies are usually filled with many voices expressing different or even contrary ideas and opinions.
Our founders wisely understood that for free people to govern themselves, they must be free to express themselves; open, publicly and repeatedly in speech and writing. However, freedom of speech is a fundamental right; it is not absolute and cannot be used to justify violence, slander, libel, subversion or obscenity.
Here’s the rub; the “fundamental” right of free speech and expression has limits. This is a high school. There are rules and regulations, policies and procedures. Thankfully, the administration is adhering to them. Just because something unseemly may have slipped through in the past doesn’t make it right.
Sometimes you just have to get over yourself; it is what it is. There are rules and regulations in the workplace. I write for a newspaper and I have an editor who calls the shots, a publisher who has the final say. We abide by decency and the law. Perhaps there are lessons to be learned.
Reading about the student protest led me to reflect on my own days at OCHS. I wrote for the student newspaper, the Billows, and along with Lynn Hughes was co-editor in chief of the yearbook, the Caravel. The memories are happy ones, good times with good friends. We had fun, but it was also a valuable learning experience. We were fortunate to have very good advisors, strong solid men of unquestionable character, Joe Bonner on the Billows and James Pulvino on the Caravel.
Would we or could we, have dared to dish up something, anything for print with curse words or any type of questionable material? No, and never. We wouldn’t have considered it. It would not have been appropriate in 1976, and it should not be appropriate in 2008.
While some may argue that this is a “just a few curse words,” I think there is a bigger issue. I prefer the by-gone era, when there were widely accepted parameters, limited, not limitless boundaries and we adhered to them. While we were encouraged to think outside the box, we had to live within it.
We respected the adults in charge; we understood that their job was to prepare us to be successful adults, to prepare us to live and work in the real world, where we would be expected to follow rules and work within the parameters dictated by future employers.
We grew up in a different world, in a different generation. For me, the jurisdiction was especially serious. Had we gone to battle, I’d have been up against kinfolk. My uncle, Scott Johnson was the principal of OCHS. Not in my lifetime would I have wanted to argue that our first amendment rights were under siege for something that was clearly inappropriate, not to mention against school policy.
I called OCHS alumnus Jamison to discuss the issue. He, too, wrote for the Billows; we shared a few happy memories of the late and great Joe Bonner. The beloved English teacher, one of the more liberal of the bunch, surely understood freedom of the press, but he also understood rules and enforced them.
There has been a lot of confusion surrounding this issue. People heard cries of “censorship” and reacted, pitting the administration against the students. It boils down to right and wrong.
“I think the real story is what is appropriate and what is inappropriate,” said Jamison. “When we went to high school the boundaries were very real, we were very limited by what we heard on the radio, by the records we listened to.
“Our kids exist in a free domain, the Internet,” he added. “They read web logs; they can publish books through computer software. Their whole existence is in the public domain. It’s a generational thing. They live on Facebook, on MySpace. They exist and function in a realm, there are no real controls. They are interacting, creating and consuming in this information age. There is no expectation of privacy on the Internet. Every once in a while, you read about police prosecuting for things that law enforcement find on the Internet. There are some things that are off limits, even on the World Wide Web.”
While it might be fodder for a sociological study, Jamison said the freedom on the Internet clouds freedom within the school system. They are not one in the same.
Several years ago, an edition of the Caravel was considered by many to be very inappropriate. With a rodent-laden theme, the publication included pictures/drawings of student’s heads on animals and other questionable, offensive material. Once printed, it’s everlasting and some students, dismally portrayed, will forever look at that Caravel with hurt feelings.
Parents and other concerned individuals complained bitterly. The issue was brought to the board of education, and a strict policy concerning the review of student publications was put into effect. After this debacle, all publications were to be reviewed by the advisor and the administration. In reviewing the Caravel, Jamison was doing his job.
“The Speakeasy is a school sponsored publication,” said Jamison. “With the endorsement of the board of education, the school is associated with the publication. We are dealing with children, in that respect, it is less free than the free press. When the dust settles and you really look at the issue, it’s very simple. The magazine is reviewed by the administration before it goes to print. All school-endorsed media is reviewed, the Morning Wave, the Billows, any television or media event is reviewed. We cannot allow inappropriate material.”
Jamison said he applauds the students for speaking up. I agree; I think students should have the fortitude to speak up for what they believe in; and they should be applauded for taking a stand. Students should not be afraid to question authority.
“I don’t want to offend the students,” he said. “They are entering adulthood, but they are not adults. This is an area where there is a degree of creativity, but we have to be careful. There is a line that we cannot cross.”
Jamison says he thinks “the vast majority of students understand” the issue and would agree that using curse words and printing questionable material is wrong.
“Most, regardless of what they hear and read online do not speak or write inappropriately in front of parents or teachers,” he said. “Most of them understand and will safely navigate their way into the adult world. It will become a process, they will learn how to conform with social mores in the workplace, what is and is not allowed.
“The greater picture is that globally, social mores have changed, look what’s on television,” he said. “It’s monumental. Think about what television was like in the ’70s, compared to now. It’s a huge societal issue, but it doesn’t change what is or is not going to be allowed to come out of Ocean City High School. This is not trailblazing. There are rules. I can’t imagine any high school allowing such a thing.”
Superintendent Dr. Kathleen Taylor said liability for school districts is huge.
“Everything has to be examined, what if there is hate, bias or harassment?” she said. “We have procedures, this is not censorship. They are allowed to write what they like on a topic. Editing is asking can you find another word or phrase? No student work was edited, but it was reviewed. We have to abide by standards; there are huge liability issues, privacy standards for children. We have to be very careful. This is a respectful process. We encourage creativity but we have to balance it with the law.”
Taylor noted that the publication in question included work submitted by students and teachers yet “no student work was edited.”
So we are left with this sticky situation; a teacher submitted questionable, obscenity-laden material for print? What can you say? What message does that send our children?
“We are very proud of the work our students have contributed,” said Taylor.
Yes, speaking for the community, we all are. OCHS has a wonderful reputation, we are fortunate to have a tremendous faculty; hard-working, caring individuals who have dedicated the better part of their adult lives to educating our children, preparing them to go out into the real world as productive adults.
I thank God for past heroes, role models like Jim Pulvino, Joe Bonner and Scott Johnson. May they rest in peace; they, and many others worked hard to make an impact on my generation.
While respecting the student’s freedom of expression, Taylor and Jamison, supported by the school board, recognized that it was time to step in and put a stop to the first amendment madness.
For the sake of the next generation, thank you and keep up the good work. Some day the students will look back and be grateful that someone cared enough to do the right thing, to be a good leader, to set a good example.



Ann Richardson can be e-mailed at annrichardson@catamaranmedia.com or you can comment on this story by calling 624-8900, ext. 250.