It is November, and FLASHINGS has yet to publish a single issue so far this year.  In addition, a new Letter on Intent has been proposed, which, if accepted, will destroy the first-amendment protection of Freeport High School students.
    In a meeting with Editor-in-chief Adam Gaffney, Dr. Northover rejected the Statement of Intent, the procedures by which FLASHINGS has been governed since 1969, and that guarantees its status as a free press. In addition, on the day of the first staff meeting, Dr. Northover told the advisor of FLASHINGS for the last 30 years, Mr. Ira J. Schildkraut, that he was not the advisor and that the meeting later that day had to be canceled.  This occured early in September, and FLASHINGS still has no advisor, despite the fact that the school board was informed of the event at its first action meeting of the year.  Assistant Superintendent of Curriculum and Instruction Dr. Anthony Ciaglia proposed a Letter of Intent to the school board on the November 3 planning meeting which will completely destroy FLASHINGS' status as a free forum for the students and will eliminate the first-amendment protection of the students of Freeport High School.

The proposed Letter of Intent, which would replace the existing Statement of Intent, will completely eliminate FLASHINGS status as a free student forum.  While most of the proposed agreement explains basic responsibilites which are the same as those contained in the Statement of Intent and which have been followed for 30 years, it also incorporates three levels of review which allow for any article to be censored at any time.  For example, the faculty advisor and principal review all articles and can send any article to the Review Committee for reasons described so broadly and vaguely in the Letter of Intent that a justification could be made for the censoring of any article.  The Review Committe consists of three students from the student government (who would be unlikely to agree on an article about the student government) as well as the faculty advisor, Dr. Ciaglia, and Dr. Northover.  However, even if there is just one or two dissenting opinions, i.e. Dr. Northover and Dr. Ciaglia don't want an article in the paper, the "issue shall move to the Office of the Superintendent."  Thus, the Superintendent makes the final decision on what gets printed and can censor any article which criticizes any decision by the district or which does not follow the School Board's "frame of reference."  The voice of the students at FHS is completely eliminated through approval of this letter.

Read the text of the Proposed Letter of Intent