I cannot believe that the principal of St Francis High School (a public, not private, school in Minnesota) decided he just had to keep this picture from a school play out of the school paper.

I'm sorry -- it just is not that offensive. More to the point, it is a fictional depiction of speech that would, according to the Supreme Court, be protected by the First Amendment.

A northern Anoka County school-district superintendent this afternoon is defending the censorship of a student newspaper on the grounds that photo depicts the destruction of the American flag.

Several First Amendment experts say the school officials are overstepping the law, and at least one civil liberties group said it might be interested in taking up the students’ cause.

A blue box, big and bold on the front-page of the St. Francis High School student newspaper, stands in for a photo that student editors say was unjustly banned by the school principal.

Inside the box on the front-page of the new edition of The Crier: “Originally a photo was to be placed here, but was censored by the administration.”

The caption below hints to the sensitive issue that is framing the free-speech feud in the northern Anoka County school: “During the Fall Play Lead Actress Becca Bennett held up a prop, made from table cloth bunting, representing how a country could be torn apart by affecting the youth. The picture was removed off the wall in the PAC hallway.” (PAC stands for Performing Arts Center.)

Prop or not, the jarring photo — which the Pioneer Press will publish in its Friday editions — resembles the tattered remains of an American flag. The image is hardly unknown to the students and staff, since the scene was performed on stage and the photo itself hung in the school’s hall.

And I'll agree -- it is a jarring photo. However, clearly captioned there should be no problem with it.

But the principal and superintendent of the district view matters differently.

Neubauer did not immediately return a phone message left for him Ed Saxton, superintendent of Independent School Dist. 15, defended the St. Francis decision on the grounds that flag destruction can be offensive.

“It’s like a quote being taken out of context,” Saxton, a former principal of the high school, said. “That particular picture, although it’s a snapshot of what was in the fall play, standing in isolation, it could be taken in many different ways. It could be pretty offensive to veterans or people who serviced in the military. It’s kind of a community standards thing.”

Unfotunately for the two of them, the district has a policy that makes the paper an open forum, and has not exercised such editorial control in the past. As such, it is difficult to believe they can legally prevail on the issue, based upon past Supreme Court precedent.

However PrincipalChief Censor Neubauer is ready to jump out of the frying pan and into the fire. He plans on filing a frivolous lawsuit against the paper for reporting and editorializing on his act of censorship, despite the information being accurate and he being a public figure in the context of the school.

One of the purposes of public schools is to instill respect for American values and governing principles. It appears, however, that Neubauer does not understand them himself -- and therefore needs to be removed from his position as the instructional leader of the school due to his obvious professional incompetence.

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