Student journalists at Prosper High School are fighting an editorial policy that they say unfairly restricts what they can and cannot print after three controversial pieces were censored this year.

Students were told by principal John Burdett that editorials would not be published because they were "incorrect, not uplifting and did not voice all 3,000 students at their high school," a news release states.

John Burdett

"Any problem we face that we wanted to write about, we were censored. It's like he just wanted happy news out there," Neha Madhira, a junior and an assistant editor this school year for Eagle Nation Online, said of Burdett.

The release also states that the school will not renew the contract of newspaper adviser Lori Oglesbee-Petter.

Newspaper staff sent a letter to Burdett, district Superintendent Drew Watkins and Prosper ISD school board members after they learned Oglesbee-Petter's contract would not be renewed, explaining their concerns about censorship and prior review before publishing articles and their hope for the newspaper to continue in Oglesbee-Petter's absence.

"The students on this staff hope to continue our work and use our voice in an effort to help the

rest of the student body for as long as we can," the letter states.

Burdett did not return requests for comment. Greg Bradley, assistant superintendent of business and operations for the district, said in an email that the district had no statement concerning the matter.

Oglesbee-Petter said her contract prohibits her from talking to reporters.

Students have cited three incidents of censorship, including removal of an article about a senior class movie night that was canceled; an editorial disapproving of the removal of the John Knowles book A Separate Peace from the sophomore curriculum; and an editorial that criticized the lack of organization behind a school bonding activity in response to school shootings.

Editorial oversight

According to district policy, school administrators and trustees have ultimate editorial authority over school-sponsored publications such as Eagle Nation Online.

Neha Madhira (left) and Lori Oglesbee-Petter (Courtesy Neha Madhira)

It also states that district educators can exercise "editorial control over style and content" as long as there is a reasonable education justification, citing the U.S. Supreme Court case Hazelwood v. Kuhlmeier that said the First Amendment rights of student journalists are not violated when school officials prevent publication of certain articles in school newspapers.

But Mike Hiestand, senior legal counsel for the Washington, D.C.-based Student Press Law Center, said he doesn't see any educational justification for censorship in the Prosper instances.

"He's made it very clear here that he's censoring because he doesn't like the tone and the image it's projecting on the school," Hiestand said of Burdett.

"Effectively, he's telling the kids they need to publish fake news," he said. "You can't publish the actual news because it doesn't reflect well enough on the school."

Hiestand said if the district does not resolve the issue, there are Texas attorneys willing to work pro bono to help students in the matter.

Recorded meeting

Madhira, who said she has been named editor-in-chief of Eagle Nation Online next year, said she has been told by Burdett that the paper is no longer allowed to write editorials. She said that in a meeting this month with Burdett and her father, the principal called stories "slanted" and focused on the negative side.

As reporters often do, she recorded the conversation. With her father's blessing, she shared this recording with The News.

In the recording, which she said she made without the principal's knowledge as allowed by state law, Burdett said he is not against critical stories, but said they need to include both sides. He said stories currently are not balanced, hence the need for prior review before publication.

Burdett said at the start of the recorded meeting that he had asked to meet with Madhira so that she would know he supported her. He said that he wanted to partner with the students but within certain limitations.

"If a story goes against the community norms, I will say no. That's my charge. That's in our board policy. That's part of the reason I was hired ... to make sure that what is being published is a fair representation of Prosper High School or Prosper ISD," Burdett said in the recording. "That doesn't mean we couldn't publish something controversial."