As journalists, one of the most important constitutional rights is the freedom of speech. As a class, we believe that this right is often overlooked because of our age and the fact that we are a high school paper reporting on football games and school functions, as opposed to hard-hitting world news. But in the past two years when we have tried to write about more serious and controversial issues going on in our community, our stories have been censored and subject to prior review by previous high school administrators.

Because of recent events at Woodrow Wilson High School in Washington DC involving previous AHS principal Kimberly Martin, we feel as though this is a good time to state our views on the matter.

Although in the past two years only one story has been pulled from the paper and a select few required revision after being looked over by Martin, the requirement of having to send a headline and blurb to Martin was enough to sway our choices of what we wrote about. As the new principal at Woodrow Wilson High School in Washington DC, Martin has faced more controversy because of her decision to once again stifle the paper.

The students writing for the Wilson Beacon decided to take a stand against prior review, creating a campaign on Change.org. This campaign is aimed at getting Martin’s policy of prior review abolished. As of September 8, 2015, the petition had reached 879 out of the 1000 needed signatures. The story has grown, and is now reaching coverage on a national level from the Washington Post.

Although we, the Skier Scribbler staff, never took a stand like the students at the Beacon, we agree that prior review compromises the integrity of our paper. By reviewing the content of the paper prior to its publication, our stories become less authentic by the nature that they are looked over and sometimes edited by a biased outside source. Even if they are not edited, the fact that we know that they will be looked over heavily influences what we choose to write about. We don’t want to feel like what we’re writing about will be rejected or edited based on the opinions of the administration. As a legitimate news source, it is important that we report on all topics, even if the topic happens to be a sensitive subject. It is important that our stories are unbiased and report the facts, and that those facts do not get skewed, slanted, or hyped by the revision of outside perspectives. It is our number one job as journalists to report truthfully on the happenings of the community, even if it ends up reflecting poorly on our school.

Our new principal Tharyn Mulberry has decided not to continue with this policy of reviewing the articles before they are published. He feels as if it is our adviser’s job to make sure that no harmful or detrimental content is published. We greatly appreciate this gesture, and hope to start this year off with no worries about the subjects we cover, and to be able to report all stories in their entirety and with the truthfulness they deserve.

*This piece reflects the opinion of the Skier Scribbler staff only