Constitutional Law

Nev. court throws out teacher's suit against school paper

By By The Associated Press

FALLON, Nev. — A Nevada judge says he dismissed a high school music teacher?s lawsuit against the school newspaper because there was nothing known to be untrue in the article she claims damaged her reputation.

Kathy Archey, a teacher at Churchill County High School in Fallon, filed the lawsuit March 5 over an article published in January about parents? allegations that Archey withheld student audition tapes for a state musical competition.

?There is not a single sentence contained in the school article which is false or known by any district defendant to be false,? Churchill County District Judge William Rogers wrote in the Aug. 10 decision.

The lawsuit alleged that the faculty adviser to the student paper, The Flash, was the driving force behind the article because his son was one of the students who didn?t make the cut for the auditions.

The suit said Archey has followed the same procedures in each of her eight years at Churchill High and submitted all voice tapes of students who qualified for auditions to join the honors choir.

?The publication of these concerns by a student author/editor in a student newspaper serves to communicate this information directly to (Churchill County School District) administrators,? Rogers wrote in the ruling.

The article was written by Lauren MacLean, a Churchill County High newspaper reporter at the time. She asked Archey to comment for the story, but Archey declined on the advice of the Churchill County Education Association.

?I thought the judge?s decision was extremely important because it spelled out how important a student newspaper is and praised the Churchill County High School newspaper,? University of Nevada, Reno journalism school Dean Jerry Ceppos said Aug. 10. ?It?s a tremendously important decision for high school journalism.?

MacLean was honored in March by the Reynolds School of Journalism at UNR and plans to attend the school in the fall.

The lawsuit also named as defendants school district Superintendent Carolyn Ross, Principal Kevin Lords, journalism adviser Myke Nelson and Steve Ranson, editor of the Lahontan Valley News and Fallon Eagle Standard.

?We are relieved this case is over,? said Ranson. ?It is time to put this case behind us and look forward.?

Full post as published by First Amendment Center on August 11, 2010 (boomark / email).