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Freedom unfettered

Freedom High School doesn't censor what its students print in their newspaper, and it has paid off with a national award.

By EMILY NIPPS
Published May 14, 2006

In April's issue of the school newspaper, student writers railed against the school bus system and the "draconian" policy of locking boys' bathrooms to discourage vandalism. They surveyed students about whether they thought the driving age should be changed to 17 all said no and they featured two students' viewpoints on cheating.

"There's no prior censorship (by Freedom administrators)," principal Richard Bartels said. "The students know what they're writing about needs to be accurate and it needs to be truthful."

Everything else seems to be fair game for the young journalists, and they've made the most of this rare freedom. The newspaper, called Revolution, was recently recognized as one of the top high school papers in the country. Freedom received the Columbia Scholastic Press Association's Gold Crown Award, a prestigious student journalism award given to only 24 high school newspapers around the nation. Revolution was the only Florida paper to get the Gold Crown.

"This is the big kahuna," said Christie Gold, Freedom's journalism teacher and newspaper adviser. "It took years worth of work to get to this point."

When Freedom High first opened four years ago, Bartels and Gold agreed that there would be no prior administrative review of each month's newspaper. If students want to run something controversial or anything that might prompt parent phone calls, Gold is only required to give Bartels a heads-up.

The paper's co-managing editor, 17-year-old senior Lyndsey Hall, has watched the paper develop over its four-year span. The CSPA Gold Crown was a bonus, she said, "but for the most part, we're just trying to put out a good school newspaper."

A couple of years ago, Revolution ran a staff editorial speaking out against nonathletes, such as band members and water girls, receiving varsity letters.

"We almost had the whole chorus stampeding (the journalism classroom), and all the chorus members pinned paper letters to their jackets," Hall said. "It was kind of cool that we were able to evoke such a reaction."

Like a real newspaper, Revolution must sell ads (at $75 a pop) to keep the publication afloat. Mercedes Homes and the Melting Pot are among the regular clients.

And getting on Freedom's newspaper staff isn't easy. To be one of the 25 reporters or 15 editors on staff, a student must prove an ability to write well and to articulate ideas. All of the writers produce stories every month, but only the best make it to print.

Gold considers the staff to be "50 percent conservative and 50 percent liberal," and she has rarely had to question the students' topic choices or decisions.

In four years, the only time Bartels suggested the students rethink content was when they wanted to run a photo of a girl lying out in the sun, holding a drink in a margarita glass. In the end, Gold and the students agreed a different photo would be more appropriate.

Bartels and Gold want the paper to reflect what the kids are thinking and doing and feeling, rather than be another form of a school newsletter. That's what has made the paper successful, and it's provided an interesting insight - like it or not - into the world of New Tampa teen life.

"I've had parents call and say, 'I can't believe you're running a story about tattoos. These kids don't have tattoos,' " Gold said. "I thought, 'Oh, really? Have you looked at a high school campus lately?' "

Emily Nipps can be reached at (813) 269-5313 or nipps@sptimes.com.

[Last modified May 14, 2006, 10:41:22]