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Drake · 10-23-2012, 08:31 AM

When I was in my precocious youth and a senior in high school, I ran an underground newspaper at my school. Because our principal was a wily veteran, he deduced what we were up to before the first issue went to press.

So he called me down to his office.

He presented the scenario of a pirate newspaper -- which might have to potential, however inadvertantly, step over the line of respect and decorum due to inexperienced editorial control -- to me as a thought experiment. He said he was grappling with the issue because he would hate to have to suspend kids for something getting out of control, when what he would rather do was applaud them showing some initiative.

What he suggested to me was that if such a thought experiment happened in reality, he'd be bound by the obligations of his office to shut the operation down if the papers were distributed on school grounds during school hours.

However, the strip of grass that ran right along the driveway to the school was a public bit of ground (I forget the legal term), and he wouldn't be able to stop anyone from standing on that bit of ground and passing out copies of theoretical newspapers to cars as they passed by.

I doubt the way he chose to handle things has any legal bearing on this discussion, and probably had quite a bit to do with the fact that he was retiring in a year. What I do know is that in four years, I'd never spoken to the man, but in the half-hour I met with him, I came to respect him and the way he handled his job more than I can adequately express.

10-23-2012, 08:31 AM	#89
Drake assmaster Join Date: Feb 2001 Location: Bloomington, IN	When I was in my precocious youth and a senior in high school, I ran an underground newspaper at my school. Because our principal was a wily veteran, he deduced what we were up to before the first issue went to press. So he called me down to his office. He presented the scenario of a pirate newspaper -- which might have to potential, however inadvertantly, step over the line of respect and decorum due to inexperienced editorial control -- to me as a thought experiment. He said he was grappling with the issue because he would hate to have to suspend kids for something getting out of control, when what he would rather do was applaud them showing some initiative. What he suggested to me was that if such a thought experiment happened in reality, he'd be bound by the obligations of his office to shut the operation down if the papers were distributed on school grounds during school hours. However, the strip of grass that ran right along the driveway to the school was a public bit of ground (I forget the legal term), and he wouldn't be able to stop anyone from standing on that bit of ground and passing out copies of theoretical newspapers to cars as they passed by. I doubt the way he chose to handle things has any legal bearing on this discussion, and probably had quite a bit to do with the fact that he was retiring in a year. What I do know is that in four years, I'd never spoken to the man, but in the half-hour I met with him, I came to respect him and the way he handled his job more than I can adequately express.