CSMA Adviser Update

You and your students should pay attention to an amendment to our 1990 state law that Rep. Barbara McLachlan (D-Durango) is sponsoring in the House. Sen. Don Coram (R-Montrose) will be sponsoring the bill in the State Senate. We will try to keep everyone in the loop, as it were, as this bill makes its way through the legislative process.

The House Education Committee hearing on this bill is Feb. 6, 1:30 p.m., in room 0107 in the Capitol. If you wish to write a letter of support, particularly for the added Section 9, covering explicit adviser protections when educators simply support the guaranteed rights of media students, please email your remarks ASAP.

If you have comments you would be willing to make to the committee about the importance of the added Section 9, particularly, please contact Advocacy Coordinator Sergio Yanes at Sergio.Yanes@jeffco.k12.co.us ASAP.

CSMA is willing to reimburse advisers who need to testify in person for their sub. Contact Jack Kennedy for details.

It is an amendment, not a new bill, with two major aims: 1) to modernize language that describes the various media platforms students use; and 2) to add common sense protections for advisers of student media who are simply supporting the guaranteed rights of their students.

The applicable language proposed in the draft of the bill:

From Section 1:

The general assembly declares that students of the public schools shall have the right to exercise freedom of speech and of the press, and no expression contained in a student publication, WHETHER PRINTED, BROADCAST, OR ONLINE, AND whether or not such publication is school-sponsored, IS subject to prior restraint except for the types of expression described in subsection (3) of this section.

Added Section 9:

A PUBLIC SCHOOL EMPLOYEE MUST NOT BE DISMISSED, SUSPENDED, DISCIPLINED, REASSIGNED, TRANSFERRED, OR OTHERWISE RETALIATED AGAINST SOLELY FOR ACTING TO PROTECT A STUDENT ENGAGED IN THE CONDUCT AUTHORIZED PURSUANT TO THIS SECTION OR FOR REFUSING TO INFRINGE UPON CONDUCT THAT IS PROTECTED BY THIS SECTION OR THE FIRST AMENDMENT TO THE UNITED STATES CONSTITUTION.

The theme is "this is what student press freedom looks like," and you can read all the details on the Student Press Law Center website.

The week of Jan 27-31 is Media Literacy Week, sponsored by our friends at the News Literacy Project. Read all about that here.

This month is the perfect time to get into free expression and ethics with our students, and the above sites should provide you with valuable resources.

Finally, a 2019 bill creating a committee to study how to improve media literacy education K-12 in Colorado led to the final committee report, which you can download here. It is quite lengthy, with extensive appendices containing valuable information on where we are and where other states are. When we know more about next steps that might follow the sharing of this report we will let you know right away.

Colorado Student Media Association memberships are by school medium, and we offer four options: print news, yearbook, online, and video media. A single membership is $65. We offer a convenient online membership form, and you can choose either to pay with a school credit card or ask to be invoiced.

Spring is busy for everyone, with lots of scholarship opportunities, individual contests, and much more. Watch for your weekly e-newsletter for details and be sure to check our website for the latest information.

Email: jpkjournalism@gmail.com
Website: colostudentmedia.com
Location: 9253 Sori Lane, Highlands Ranch CO
Phone: 303-550-4755
Facebook: facebook.com/coloradostudentmedia
Twitter: @ColoradoSMA