Jennifer Lawrence is our new Celebrity Babe of the Week at www.adultcybermart.com/CBOW.html
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – from www.azcentral.com – After a popular teacher was found partially undressed in a car with a 17-year-old boy in March, high school journalist Charley Nold set out to tell the story.
But Charley, 16, a staff writer for the duPont Manual High School’s online publication, the Manual RedEye, couldn’t get his story past Principal Larry Wooldridge, who rejected Charley’s initial one-paragraph story announcing the female science teacher’s arrest and subsequent resignation.
Instead Wooldridge scribbled out his own statement to be posted online, saying only that Carrie Shafer [pictured] had quit and the school was seeking a replacement.
Charley, joined by classmate Julian Wright, then wrote a follow-up story that focused on student reaction to the incident, along with examples of alleged misconduct by teachers with students elsewhere in the state and warning signs for students about being exploited. Wooldridge rejected that story as well.
To date, the only things the RedEye has published on the departure of Shafer are two statements from the principal, neither of which addresses Shafer’s arrest on a misdemeanor charge of unlawful transaction with a minor.
According to the RedEye’s still unpublished story, the goal of school officials was to “ensure that this situation stayed within the school’s walls.” Charley and other Manual students are concerned that Wooldridge is censoring their work to protect the school’s reputation from an already widely reported scandal.
“As a principal he does a good job, but when it comes to matters of the student press I think he doesn’t understand that we’re not just part of the school,” Charley said. “We are a legitimate news organization.”
According to the Jefferson County Public Schools’ code of conduct and student bill of rights, school publications “will be free from censorship or prior restraint.” But it also says school officials may establish guidelines that include restricting libelous or obscene material.
The county schools spokesman, Ben Jackey, said the district was aware of Wooldridge’s decision and that he acted appropriately.
Wooldridge said in an email for this story that he was “not sure why this is a news story.” He also said coverage of the Shafer story is an important part of journalism students’ “educational process, and I value their work.”
Wooldridge did not respond to repeated attempts for further comment.
Journalism teacher Jamie Miller also declined to comment.
Shafer, who had sponsored Manual’s Fellowship of Christian Athletes group and taught biology, anatomy and physiology, was found March 11 with the boy in a parked car off campus. According to police, there was evidence of beer consumption and contraceptive use, and the boy acknowledged receiving beer from Shafer.
In Kentucky, the age of sexual consent is 16. But a relatively new state law makes it a felony for a person “in a position of authority or special trust,” such as a teacher, to have sex with someone under 18 if the alleged offender came in contact with the juvenile as a result of the position of authority or trust.
Steve Tedder, a spokesman for the Jefferson commonwealth’s attorney’s office, said prosecutors were reviewing the police investigation to decide whether to file additional charges. Shafer’s current charge is a Class A misdemeanor, punishable by up to 12 months in jail and a $500 fine.
Principals have the legal right to act as publisher over high school publications, said David Greer, administrator for the Kentucky High School Journalism Association. But, Greer added, “that is a very controversial right that’s been debated on and on for the past two decades across the nation. It’s not an easy call.”