The Leopard Prowl staff uses both the Associated Press Stylebook and our own Student Publications Stylebook. These books help us write articles that follow journalistic laws and ethics. As a staff, we know that it is our job to include articles in our publications that may test the limits, yet still avoid libel, invasion of privacy, or injury. We are honored to live in a state that has laws that protect us as student journalists. Without them, I know that our staff wouldn't be as safe publishing newspapers with articles or extras that are controversial. After my first publication of the newspaper as editor was released, there were comments made to our district office that stressed we had too much negativity in our newspaper. Community members and parents said we should focus more on positive things as a staff. In response to these comments, I wrote an editorial for the next issue. The text version of this editorial is featured below.
By the students, for the students - Published Wednesday, November 9, 2017
I want to start by thanking the Lincoln Sentinel-Republican and John Baetz for supporting and including our school paper in their publication. It is awesome that our school paper is seen by so many people. However, our first goal as a student publication is to produce a paper for the students at LJSHS. Recently, it was brought to both my and The Leopard Prowl staff’s attention that there were readers from outside of the school who expressed concerns with the content that was published in the last issue (October 12, 2016). I acknowledge that some readers could have found some of the content of the Prowl to be controversial. But what someone sees as controversial, others may not. Who gets to decide what is controversial? And furthermore, why would someone think that a school newspaper should not write about issues happening at or affecting the school? Are high school students not allowed to express their ideas and opinions? If someone is looking for the Prowlto only offer a sugar coated window into our students’ lives, then we are going to disappoint you. We are a newspaper printed by students at LJSHS. We cover the news and what is happening at LJSHS. This news can be positive or negative. The public should be aware that The Leopard Prowl is published by the journalism students of Lincoln Junior/Senior High School (LJSHS) and is produced for the students of LJSHS. The primary use of The Leopard Prowl is for an educational tool of LJSHS journalism students. As an open forum, The Leopard Prowl is and can be used for student expression. Opinion pieces that are printed are not necessarily a reflection of the opinions held by the student body as a whole, staff, faculty, or administration. This is to be considered while reading The Leopard Prowl. The Leopard Prowl staff makes efforts to meet needs of the community members; however, the material that is produced by the students may not be covered as a mature reader would prefer. If a reader has any questions or concerns about The Leopard Prowl, it would be preferred that you approach the editor-in-chief (myself) or the newspaper staff first. You can contact any of our writers, our adviser, or me directly with your questions or concerns by emailing us at [email protected]. You can also call the school and ask to speak to us or schedule a time to meet. You can even write a letter to the editor, which we would be glad to include in our paper. Letters should be sent to [email protected] and should not exceed 250 words. If we are unable to supply the answer to your question or concern, then you are to contact LJSHS Principal Kenneth Huff. If you are still unable to receive your answer, you are to contact Superintendent Kathy Robertson and then the USD 298 Board of Education, respectively in that order. The Prowl fully supports the chain of command policy adopted by our board of education on August 1, 2016, and looks forward to hearing the questions and concerns of our readers and working towards correcting any errors that were made. In 1991, the Kansas Senate passed the Kansas Student Publications Act with a vote of 37-2. The Kansas House passed the act in 1992 with a vote of 79-42 and Gov. Joan Finney signed the bill into law in 1992. The state of Kansas is one of only 11 states that has passed such a law that protects press freedom for public school students. The Leopard Prowl Staff is a proud to be in one of the few states that protects student journalists and we believe that the First Amendment and an open and free press are what makes the United States the greatest country in the world. Here is our promise to our readers. We promise to work hard at improving and removing any grammatical errors in our newspaper. We promise to cover the issues and stories that affect us at LJSHS. Please read more about what The Leopard Prowl is, what it is used for, and what is and can be published in it, in the far left column of the second page. We can not stress enough how happy we would be to include your letters in our publication. We look forward to hearing from you.