SPLC

For the first time in a month, I feel a little better about our yearbook issue.

This past year, a student on yearbook decided to joke with a friend and change her name. When proof came, the section editor knew about it, but she only laughed and didn't change it. I didn't catch it, because I don't spell check names in my publications--that's a student's responsibility. However, as soon as I found out about it, I let administration know. I then spoke with my students and got to the bottom of the situation. Those students were referred to administration and an apology to the student was issued by both people. Nevertheless, I left school feeling like there was a possibility that I, and the yearbook, could be sued for libel anytime for the next three years. Needless to say, I was incredibly concerned.

Today, I was able to look through the SPLC website a bit and I found what would essentially encompass my issue:

"What do we do if we find out someone snuck a "hidden message" in the book?Pranks are a sad and unfortunate reality of student publishing. Get to the bottom of what happened immediately and find out where the slip-up occurred. If the message targets a particular person, get to them immediately with an explanation and an apology. Be prepared to defend your procedures – enemies who don’t like the yearbook (or the yearbook adviser) may use this slip-up as a weapon to say students can’t be trusted to edit their own book. Don’t let them. And consider legal action against the culprit if the prank is bad enough to require spending money to reprint the book."

On a separate, but related, note, I found the Frank LoMonte presentation incredibly interesting. There's so much about laws and the first amendment that I need to be more aware of--in fact, I sent an email asking for our school board policy regarding student publications. We have two schools in the district and one school has prior review (mine) and the other one doesn't, per school board policy. I would like to remove that prior review element from my timeframe. I've also set up a meeting with my principal in order to flesh out some of the legal concerns I have with going online.

Additionally, and I know this blog is all over the place, but we're doing a lip sync for the 75th anniversary of our school. We've been concerned about the legality of using music, because we want to post the video to YouTube. Through this process, I learned that our school radio station no longer subscribes to music rights services. They purchase music and then play it over-the-air. From my understanding, and correct me, if I'm wrong, you can't just play any music purchased. There're different types of purchases for videos and where/how things can be used...is broadcasting music the same???


Jamie Nusbaum
Sheboygan North High School
Sheboygan, Wis.