Overland Scout free to publish on schedule for the rest of the school year, principal says

AURORA | Overland High School Principal Leon Lundie assured student journalists this week that they would be free to publish their newspaper without prior review for the rest of the school year.

In a meeting Monday with writers and editors from the Overland Scout, Lundie said the students would be free to run as many editions of the student paper as they could within their preapproved budget, and that the paper’s editorial content would not be reviewed or changed by school administrators. The meeting followed an earlier flap between the principal and the Scout staff, a conflict that stemmed from a specific story about the death of a student athlete.

Last month, Lundie had voiced concerns about a story regarding the death of Overland sophomore Leibert Phillip, a wrestler who suffered from a fractured ankle during a match that eventually turned into a fatal blood clot. The story was never published, but journalists from the Scout claimed that Lundie had threatened to stop publication for the year and refit the school’s journalism program as retaliation for the story.
What’s more, the students complained that Lundie removed newspaper advisor Laura Sudik as part of the retribution for the story.

“The newspaper has been a part of the school for decades,” said student editor and writer Lori Schafer in a March release from the American Civil Liberties Union of Colorado. “Principal Lundie thinks he can just come and shut down the paper during his first year of oversight of the school because it does not help in his goal of creating the ‘perfect image.’”

In a statement issued earlier this week, Lundie countered that he had never intended to end publication for the year. He was concerned about the students’ ability to write and produce two or three more editions before the end of the school year in May.

“To date, the class has published three editions of the eight scheduled for the school year, two of which were double issues. The students have delayed publication of the current issue with plans to include additional articles,” Lundie wrote in the statement. “It is unfortunate that my statements were misunderstood. I agree that I probably could have communicated better and I take personal responsibility for that.”

District officials have insisted that media coverage about the Scout incident has been inaccurate. The paper has not been shut down, officials maintain, and planned changes to the journalism program at Overland were set in motion before the incident in March.

“The newspaper never stopped publication, it was never shut down,” said Cherry Creek School District Spokeswoman Tustin Amole, who attended the Monday meeting. “They started talking about the changes in online publishing, newspaper reporting in October,” she said, adding that Lundie chose an unfortunate time to tell students about the changes to the program. “The timing probably could have been better,” she said.

In his statement, Lundie said that the school would not pursue a “read-first” policy for the rest of the year, even as he defended the administration’s legal right to do so.

“Although district policy and Colorado state law allow for prior review to ensure articles do not violate laws governing others rights to privacy, are not libelous or offensive with regard to race, color, age, religion, etc., I have agreed that I will not ask to see articles prior to publication,” Lundie wrote. “The newspaper class will continue in its current format for the remainder of the year with their sponsor.”

Lundie and district officials have said that next year’s journalism class will change to fit the program at schools like the University of Colorado, with an added emphasis on online journalism, blogs and newer technology. It’s unclear whether Sudik will be a part of the overhauled program, an uncertainty that’s drawn criticism from some corners.

“Firing the adviser in May for what the students wrote isn’t more permissible than it is in March,” said Adam Goldstein, attorney advocate for the Student Press Law Center, in a statement from the SPLC. Goldstein attended the Monday meeting through a conference call. “We still need assurances that this program will still exist as vibrant as it ever has,” he added in the statement.