The district said the piece might violate a state rule that it said prevented publications at public schools from featuring “obscenity, defamation and incitement,” and it threatened to fire Katherine Duffel, the paper’s longtime faculty adviser.

In articles, columns, television programs and social media posts, the standoff over an unpublished story became either a symbol of censorship and women’s rights, or the loss of traditional values and a school district’s responsibility to protect young students from harmful content.

People from all over the country weighed in. Someone sent the paper a $250 donation. One woman sent $100 and asked for a sneak peek of the article. Hilde Lysiak, who publishes a local paper in Pennsylvania and is, at age 12, the youngest member of the Society of Professional Journalists, offered to flood the Bear Creek campus with copies of the story if the district blocked The Voice from publishing it.

“It’s been pretty hectic — we weren’t expecting so much feedback,” said Bailey Kirkeby, 17, the article’s author. “I’m a little scared that it’s hyped up too much and that when people read it, it’s going to be anticlimactic.”

In the end, the district decided not to block publication. But its lawyers did send a letter to an attorney representing both Ms. Duffel and Ms. Kirkeby, asking that The Voice publish a disclaimer stating that the district did not endorse the article. The Voice refused to do that, according to the lawyer, Matthew Cate.