[§302A-451] Student journalists; school-sponsored media. (a) A student journalist shall be allowed to exercise freedom of speech and freedom of the press in school-sponsored media and shall not be disciplined for acting in accordance with this section. A student journalist shall be responsible for determining the news, opinion, feature, and advertising content of school-sponsored media.
(b) Nothing in this section shall be construed to prevent a student media advisor from teaching professional standards of English language use and journalism to student journalists or determining grades and credit for those purposes.
(c) Nothing in this section shall be construed to authorize or protect student expression that:
(d) There shall be no prior constraint of material prepared for school-sponsored media except as provided in subsection (c). School officials shall have the burden of showing justification without undue delay before a limitation of student expression under this section and shall establish a reasonable period of review for material prepared for school-sponsored media. If the period of review elapses without a decision, the material prepared for school-sponsored media shall be considered authorized.
(e) No publication or other expression of material by student journalists in the exercise of rights under this section shall be deemed to be an expression of the school, board, or department. No state agency, member of the board, officer of the department, or employee of any agency or the board shall be held responsible in any civil or criminal action for the publication or other expression of material by student journalists in the exercise of rights under this section or the First Amendment of the United States Constitution.
(f) A student media advisor shall not be dismissed, suspended, disciplined, reassigned, transferred, or otherwise retaliated against for:
(g) The board shall adopt a written policy for the exercise of the right of student journalists to freedom of speech and freedom of the press in school-sponsored media in accordance with this section; provided that the policy shall include:
(h) For the purposes of this section:
"School-sponsored media" means any material:
"School-sponsored media" does not include material intended for distribution or transmission for classroom purposes only.
"Student journalist" means a student who determines, gathers, compiles, writes, edits, photographs, records, or prepares information or advertising for inclusion in school-sponsored media.
"Student media advisor" means an individual employed, appointed, or designated by a school to supervise or provide instruction relating to school-sponsored media. [L 2022, c 24, §3]