It was hard to tell if the level of excitement in the Ballard High School classroom was out of the ordinary for the daily meeting of the school’s Talisman newspaper staff. Two young women, both blond, one named Kate, the other Katie, were standing to the front of the room playing a clip by Phyllis Fletcher from KUOW radio. Then they burst into frenzied overlapping speech like cans of soda that had been shaken vigorously and opened simultaneously.

By coincidence I had asked to sit in on a meeting of Talisman staff for that day. One day earlier the editors had received a tip from Washington Journalism Education Association that Seattle Public Schools were considering a policy change that would allow every high school principle the right to review and possibly censor the content of all publications.

Kate Clark, Editor-in-Chief and Katie Kennedy, Managing Editor, put a copy of the proposed policy on-screen as their adviser, teacher Michael Smith looked on from his desk. Questions came from all across the room of students. “Would this affect yearbook too? What about drama and choir?” If they lost the right to free speech, as implied by the proposed language, could they be suspended for criticizing the school even in an off-hand remark? “Would it take away our right to petition?,” Kennedy asked.

“You’re the reporters,” Mr. Smith interjected. “Those are the questions you need to answer.”

“This policy is from the State,” a student said. “Seattle School Board might not have any evil intentions.”

Kate Clark snapped back, “Disinterest can be worse than evil intentions.”

Talisman staff meets daily as part of a class that also fulfills occupational education requirements. For many of the students who have been participating multiple years, journalism has become more than a class, more than each print issue of the nearing century-old Talisman tradition. It defines their future plans.

Michael Smith has been Talisman’s adviser (he made sure I knew that was the correct spelling in regard to academics) for six years. I couldn’t use his calm demeanor as an indicator for whether this was extraordinary even for the effusive editors, or just another day in the life of an outstanding school newspaper. I had to look for other clues.

The paper goes to print every 3-4 weeks, with “late nights” preceding the print edition when all the stories and advertisements are readied for their printing at nearby Pacific Publishing. Each paper has a certain theme, featured in the center facing pages and known as the double truck. On this particular Friday, one day after the tip about the policy change and the KUOW piece, all of the articles for the double truck focus on theft had been received.

Kate Clark and Katie Kennedy were proposing to scrap the focus and most of the articles in order to prepare an emergency response to the threat to the First Amendment rights of students. In the first fifteen minutes of class they rallied the staff and through brainstorming reassigned stories. Two students were put to work creating a survey for the student body regarding what they know about their rights. Another student was assigned an op-ed piece. Yet another student was assigned to an article on the history of the First Amendment and Supreme Court cases on the issue of Freedom of Speech.

Meanwhile Kate continued contacting other local media as well as the editors of other high school newspapers. One student said, “Koop is cool. He probably won’t censor us,” referring to Principal Wynkoop. Kate Clark responded, “We need to fight this for all schools.”

By the time Michael Smith shooed the editors from the room at the start of his next class there was a draft survey on its way to the printer, a statement from the editors about the threat that they intended to post all over Ballard that afternoon and interviews scheduled with The Stranger and MyBallard. That was in a 50 minute class. I could only wonder what these future journalists would accomplish by the end of the day.

Indeed by that afternoon they had plastered Ballard in flyers and their story was on-line in several local media. The Seattle Times kept up coverage of the policy proposal and the Ballard High School newspaper’s campaign. As of Tuesday, Nov 8, The Stranger had revoked its endorsement of School Board incumbent Harium Martin-Morris due entirely to his role in the potential policy change and his refusal to go “on tape” regarding the change. By Wednesday The Seattle Times reported that Interim Superintendent Susan Enfield had indefinitely tabled adopting the policy, previously scheduled to go before the School Board in early December.

In less than a week the Talisman editors had fought an issue and won very publically, even before their special issue went to print.

In the midst of the initial hubbub I asked senior Drew Powell, Arts and Culture editor, calm in the midst of the frenzy if he could recall changing what’s called the double truck, the center facing pages of the paper in his three years on the paper. He thought back then concluded, “No.”

Even as the class dispersed, with the amazing results of their campaign still unknown, I was awed by their passion, intelligence, energy and unequivocal desire to champion the rights of all students.

At the end of that 50-minute class my brain was reeling from the waves of energy and purpose generated by these students. I finally managed to catch Mr. Smith’s eye and call my initial question across the room.
“In your six years as adviser would you say this is an unusual amount of excitement for the paper?”

Mr. Smith replied, “It is safe to say yes.”

Will these students continue to shape our present and future? It is safe to say yes.