The high school newspaper that got shut down for reporting on cafeteria food

I just found out about a school in Ohio where the principal killed the entire student newspaper edition because it had an article about the cafeteria serving expired milk. This was back in 2022, and the kids had photos and dates to back it up. The principal said it was "inappropriate content" but everyone knew it was about avoiding bad press. What gets me is how often this happens at the local level, not just big national stories. Has anyone else seen a school or local paper get squashed for something that small?

2 comments

2 Comments

rodriguez.jordan21d ago

The real kicker nobody talks about is how this hurts the students way more than the school. Those kids put in hours of work on that paper interviewing people, checking facts, laying out pages. Then some principal just snatches it away because they're scared of a phone call from the district office. I knew a guy in high school who wrote for our paper and they buried a story about asbestos in the ceiling tiles. The administration said it was "too complicated" for students to understand. But here's what gets me every time - these are the exact same schools trying to teach kids about freedom of speech and how to be good citizens. They scream about critical thinking until someone starts actually thinking critically about their lunch. It's real easy to preach about the First Amendment when nobody's pointing out the moldy bread in the cafeteria.

paul_thompson6721d ago

My buddy in high school actually had this exact thing happen to him. He was the editor for the school paper and they did a whole investigation into why the vending machine prices were double what they were at the gas station down the street. The principal killed the story the day before it went to print. Said it would be "confusing" for the student body. But everyone already knew the administration was getting a kickback from the vendor. Last I heard that guy is a journalist now and he still brings it up every time someone tells him high school journalism doesn't matter.