SAN DIEGO, March 31 (UPI) -- A California high school newspaper has published a special edition with an article and editorial banned from publication in 2007 and 2008.
But it was not known what effect the special issue of The Tomahawk would have on the lawsuit the American Civil Liberties Union filed against Fallbrook High School last November, the San Diego Union-Tribune reported Tuesday. Superintendent Dale Mitchell said the district hopes it will avert a court fight.
"It's a victory for free speech that the district finally lifted the ban on publishing the article and the editorial," said David Blair-Loy, legal director of the San Diego and Imperial counties ACLU. "It should not have had to take a lawsuit and motion to do it."
The article was critical of a former school superintendent, saying he had delayed evacuation of the school during wildfires, while the editorial criticized abstinence-only sex education. Principal Rod King refused to allow their publication because of concerns about accuracy.
Mitchell said the special edition included articles explaining the dispute about them.
The student journalists involved have since graduated and the school no longer offers a journalism class, though there is an after-school program.
