By Kevin Hanson-The Courier-Herald

The current effort to secure free-speech rights for young Washington journalists has a decidedly Enumclaw twist.

The movement, in the form of House Bill 1307, was spurred by a conversation between State Rep. Dave Upthegrove and Enumclaw teenager Brian Schraum. The end result is a bill that would give writers for both high school and college newspapers the same rights as their adult counterparts.

The key players are Schraum - former editor of both the Enumclaw High School and Green River Community College newspapers and now a staff writer for the campus daily at Washington State University - and Upthegrove, a third-term Democratic lawmaker from Des Moines.

While in charge of GRCC's paper, The Current, Schraum became alarmed at the lack of student journalists' rights. Throughout most of the nation, administrators have the legal right to preview the content of student publications, an issue that was confirmed by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1988.

An Illinois court case last year also went against student journalists and, when the high court refused to hear the appeal, Schraum voiced his concerns.

He found an ally in Upthegrove, who introduced his free-press legislation shortly after the opening bell sounded for the 2007 session of the state Legislature. His bill covers news and editorial content of student newspapers and does not apply to libelous or obscene material. Essentially, HB1307 releases school districts from liability for the content of student newspapers.

&#8220We need to model First Amendment right in our student publications,” Upthegrove said. &#8220Civics education, especially learning about the protections guaranteed in the Bill of Rights, is essential if we want our kids to grow up to be good citizens.”

He was further prompted to introduce his bill by the results of a recent national survey, which found 49 percent of high schoolers agreed with the statement, &#8220it is OK for the government to censor the news.”

Another integral development had occurred in October 2005, when the Everett High School newspaper, The Kodak, was shut down when student editors refused to allow administrators to have the final say in the paper's content.

That’s not the case at Enumclaw High School, where the student newspaper hums along despite the months-old imposition of &#8220prior restraint.”

Vic Wallace, faculty adviser for The Hornet, has lived with both philosophies.

Longtime EHS Principal Terry Parker allowed Wallace and his student crew to determine the content of the student newspaper. David Dorn, who moved into the principal's office with the beginning of the current year, holds a different belief.

Wallace said he learned of the change during a visit with Dorn prior to the start of the school year. &#8220I went in to see where his feelings were on students' free speech and that sort of thing,” he said.

At first, Wallace admits, he was &#8220surprised and disappointed a little” upon hearing that Dorn wanted to review all of The Hornet’s stories prior to publication.

The surprise quickly wore off, Wallace said, because he was aware that &#8220more and more administrators have moved toward that in this state.”

While still advocating for students’ free-speech rights, Wallace concedes he understands the administrative viewpoint. He knows Dorn is looking out for the interests of the entire school but, still, &#8220would prefer that students learn from their mistakes.”

Wallace is quick to point out Dorn hasn't ordered anything pulled from the pages of The Hornet.

Under the old regime, Wallace said, &#8220about once every three years something would escape us…and we'd get called on it.

&#8220There were times when there were things printed that I wish hadn't been printed,” he added, calling such instances &#8220a valuable learning experience.”

Dorn doesn't see himself as a censor. Instead he sees himself as something of a sounding board. He checks the content of the student paper, he said, to make sure something doesn't slip past that would embarrass a student or faculty member.

He emphasizes that he has great trust in Wallace's leadership over the student project.

The issue doesn't spark as much debate at White River High School, where a student newspaper is a sometimes thing. Teacher Kierstin Feist and her class is primarily in charge of producing the school yearbook; if there's time at toward the end of the school year, attention is turned toward getting out a paper.

First-year Principal Mike Hagadone came from Puyallup High, which has an active publications program and operates under a &#8220prior review” policy. If a paper were to be produced at at White River, he said, his first inclination would be to trust Feist's judgement on content. If questions or concerns arose, he said, he would want the issue taken through administrative channels.

Upthegrove's bill has some serious opposition. During committee hearings in Olympia, school administrators spoke against the measure.

Kevin Hanson can be reached at khanson@courierherald.com.