Credit: Amanda Kuehnle/LevittownNow.com
According to Neshaminy High School substitute teacher and Middletown resident Steve Rodos, not many people come close to a Constitutional issue like the ‘Playwickian Redskins’ debate in their life.
Over the last year or so, the local community couldn’t have come closer.
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Residents, as well as constitutional talent from the My Daily Constitution series, met with editors of the nationally acclaimed and buzzed about student newspaper The Playwickian on Tuesday night at the Levittown Library.
Members from across the community, including Levittown native, Los Angeles resident and creator of the My Daily Constitution series Linda Pollack, as well as Philadelphia area attorney Bill McLaughlin, were on hand to informally discuss with the student editors the constitutionality of their buzzed about year-long policy.
The Playwickian become famous nationwide last Fall when they issued an unsigned editorial dictating they, as members of the editorial board, would no longer in full print the name of their high school’s mascot – the ‘Redskin’. Read the unsigned editorial here.
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The group, which met in a circular fashion in the library’s meeting room for over an hour, was able to separate the student editors argument into two pivotal points. First, whether the term ‘Redskin’ is actually a racial slur to the Native Americans and indigenous people of the Neshaminy area, and second, whether the editors have the legal right to institute such a policy – the refusal to print – what some call – a pivotal part of their school’s identity.
In attendance was Playwickian Managing Editor Jackson Haines and Gillian McGoldrick, co-editor in chief, along with several other members of the editorial board. Both Haines and McGoldrick were key spokespeople for The Playwickian’s case last year and remain the key faces of The Playwickian brand and scandal.
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McGoldrick, who in addition to losing her title for nearly a month this past Fall, was named Philly Magazine’s Best Truth-to-Power Player in July. The spunky gal, who was just 17 at the time, is the editor who ultimately sent the Playwickian to the printer without administration approval last June.
According to the editorial board in attendance Tuesday, after issuing their new policy, they received an anonymous advertisement in support of ‘Redskin’ pride – when they refused to print the word itself, they faced an uproar from their administration.
“I think a lot of people saw us as trouble makers or just trying to get attention, that we were challenging a tradition that didn’t need to be challenged,” said Haines to a dozen or so residents Tuesday night.
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In November of last year, the editorial board arranged to meet with the administration, as a way of ‘stating their case’. According to the editors, they arranged the talk to get on equal grounds with the administration, they prepared a presentation, as did the administration, but it resulted in a two and a half hour screaming match between members of the administration and parents of the editors.
The following Monday, McGoldrick recalled the board was shot down. A statement made by McGee argued the students hadn’t proved their point on the legality of their policy.
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It was that night that the editorial staff received pro bono representation, which McGoldrick recalled, sent numerous, unanswered letters to the administration seeking to work out the issue.
It was then that the editorial board received a letter to the editor written by a school board member’s son, who addressed the term ‘Redskin’ multiple times in his statement. Editors, upon agreement with their new policy, sent the printed letter to administration for Hazelwood approval, on the condition that ‘Redskins’ be printed as ‘R*******’.
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“We were told we were limiting speech and that we were not allowed to reject advertisements or letters to the editors for containing the word, that we had to publish it as is,” said McGoldrick.
McGoldrick, in agreement with her staff’s policy, sent the paper to the printer anyways.
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After the paper was printed and distributed by students like normal, McGoldrick recalled that McGee was reportedly confiscating papers with a shopping cart. Despite the allegations from students that the papers were taken by the administration, copies were eventually made available and distributed at graduation the next Saturday.
It was shortly after that the Neshaminy School Board voted 8-1 to approve the revised district policy – known as Policy 600. The policy banned editors from editing the word ‘Redskin’ out of letters to the editor and advertisements. The students were allowed to not publish the word in their news articles.
Haines, recalled at Tuesday’s discussion that the policy along with other things the administration did, raised “questionable constitutionality.”
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Subsequently, as the case rose to national fame, ESPN Host Keith Olbermann called the Neshaminy administration, once again, “The Worst People in the Sport’s World“.
Playwickian Adviser since 2000, and NFT President since June, Tara Huber, who according to students, was away from the classroom when the decision was made to print the paper’s final issue of the year, was suspended and docked two days without pay this school year as a result. Coincidentally, McGoldrick recalled, Huber was suspended on September 17, also known as Constitution Day.
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Huber was named ‘Journalism Teacher of the Year’ in June, essentially in the midst of the locally grown issue.
Rodos remarked Tuesday that Policy 600, which named the Playwickian ‘government speech’ went against the age old tradition and policy of the student paper being regarded as a public forum.
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According to Huber, the biggest piece of the puzzle that hasn’t been mentioned is that the editors freedom of the press can’t possibly trump the student’s who wish the publish the word, freedom of speech.
“The constitution says the government shall not restrict freedom of speech, editors edit as editors will, they cant by definition, sensor because they don’t have that right,” said Huber to the crowd.
Huber raises an important point and McLaughlin, who has a background in constitutional law, said the case is a pivotal instrument of three important student cases – all of which have landed in the hands of the supreme court.
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McLaughlin cited West Virginia v. Barnett, which stated the government cannot force anyone to speak, Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District, that students do not shed their constitutional rights at the school house gate, and Hazelwood School District v. Kuhlmeier that school district administration has the right to prior review of the student paper as possible precedence over the Neshaminy case, shall it go to trial.
McGoldrick maintains the editorial board is just focused on putting out a good paper, and at this time, hasn’t filed any sort of legal action against the administration.
McLaughlin maintains the case isn’t an easy one for either side saying “there is no real answer”.
To much surprise by those who attended, Neshaminy School Board Member Tony Sposato rose to speak at the library discussion, citing while he didn’t “personally care what the mascot was called”, nearly 80 percent of those who identify as Native American’s don’t find the ‘Redskins’ term offensive, according to a 2004 survey.
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Those in the audience argued that while the survey is 10 years old, the paper has the right to not offend the 20 percent who do care.
The question isn’t a press issue, McLaughlin said, but rather a student right to expression issue – and while the paper hasn’t had the issue of deciding to print the word this year, it’s up for debate whether they have the right to do so anyway.
Editor’s Note: Reporter Amanda Kuehnle served as an editor on the The Playwickian in high school.
