Speaking Underground

Send Us Your Comments

2006-02-10T23:11:00.000-05:00

Please send us your comments. We invite you to study the documents on this website. Read the Email Trail, our Letter to Cobb County Superintendent, our issues of BrookSpeak, our Staff Editorial and decide for yourself.

It is our hope that the Pebblebrook administration and the Cobb County School District will take your comments into consideration and choose not to censor student publications at Pebblebrook High School by removing the newspaper publication class.

BrookSpeak Online

2005-11-01T20:40:00.000-05:00

In the fall of the 2005-2006 school year student editors choose to continue publication of BrookSpeak despite the lack of a formal journalism class. The decision was made to change to an online only format, because of time and cost constraints.

Visit the BrookSpeak website here:
http://www.pebblebrookpress.com/brookspeak/

Pebblebrook Literary Magazine

2005-06-17T21:31:00.000-05:00

Please visit the Pebblebrook Literary Magazine.

The class that worked towards producing this literary magazine is one of the journalism classes that has been deleted at Pebblebrook High School.

Daily Pundit Article

2005-06-16T21:20:00.000-05:00

May 23, 2005

Jackass

By Bill Quick

Cyber Journalist Article

2005-06-16T20:51:00.000-05:00

May 26, 2005

Students blog after high school shuts paper

By Jonathan Dube

Student Press Law Center Article

2005-06-12T21:28:00.000-05:00

June 3, 2005

Ga. high school drops class that produced student newspaper
Officials say budget cuts forced cancellation, but students say they are being censored

By Rebecca McNulty

New Principal Announced

2005-05-29T20:47:00.000-05:00

On May 19, Principal Randy Bynum announced his promotion to Cobb County Area Assistant Superintendent. His replacement as principal at Pebblebrook is Regina Montgomery. Montgomery previously served as the Associate Principal at Sprayberry High School. Please contact Ms. Montgomery and encourage her to reinstate journalism classes at Pebblebrook High School.

Regina.Montgomery@cobbk12.org

The Word Unheard Article

2005-05-28T22:15:00.000-05:00

May 27, 2005

High School Shuts Down Paper: Students Start Blog

By USMC_Vet

Exactly 2¢ Worth Article

2005-05-28T17:28:00.000-05:00

May 28, 2005

4 Points about Cobb County Journalism Class

By David Warlick

Teach 42 Podcast

2005-05-28T17:23:00.000-05:00

Friday, May 27th, 2005

Students Speaking Underground

By Steve

Weblogg-ed Article

2005-05-28T16:40:00.000-05:00

Friday, May 27, 2005

Student Journalists Blog Back

By Will R.

Undisclosed Location Article

2005-05-28T16:35:00.000-05:00

05/27/2005

The role of weblogs in student journalism

By Izzy

Pegasus News Article

2005-05-28T16:33:00.000-05:00

May 23, 2005

Training

By Mike Orren

BuzzMachine Article

2005-05-22T22:34:00.000-05:00

May 22, 2005

Some lesson in free speech and responsibility

By Jeff Jarvis

Edgar's Education Weblog Article

2005-05-22T22:30:00.000-05:00

May 20, 2005

Tyranny and short-sighted educators

By Edgar's Education Weblog Administrator

LazyCat - The View from Here Article

2005-05-22T22:29:00.000-05:00

Thursday, May 19, 2005

AJC.com: Cobb school loses its 'voice'

By LazyCat

My Life, Take II Articles

2005-05-21T17:44:00.000-05:00

Thursday, May 19, 2005

Unprincipled Principals

Saturday, May 21, 2005

Principal Interest

Both By Scott Johnson

Read BrookSpeak

2005-05-20T17:31:00.000-05:00

We invite you to read BrookSpeak and decide for yourself how balanced the coverage was for news and feature stories by these first time student journalists.

BrookSpeak Issue 1 PDF
BrookSpeak Issue 2 PDF
BrookSpeak Issue 3 PDF

Email Trail Updated

2005-05-20T16:39:00.000-05:00

We have more emails for you to read.

View the updates in the original post or download the PDF. Scroll to the bottom to see the new stuff.

WSB-TV 2 Atlanta News Report

2005-05-20T15:31:00.000-05:00

May 20, 2005
Video Clip

Principal shuts down Cobb high school paper

By Pam Martin
Action News anchor

[Windows Media Player needed to view clip]

Atlanta Journal-Constitution Letter Response

2005-05-20T15:19:00.000-05:00

Published on: 05/20/05

Priorities out of whack in Cobb

Cobb County's Pebblebrook High School has sacrificed its journalism program so that popular courses such as cosmetology, of all things, can remain in the curriculum ("Cobb school loses its 'voice,' " Metro, May 19).

I don't think it is possible to send a worse message about the public school system and the kind of education children are likely to receive there. Let's hope someone on the school board is paying attention.

RICHARD DIGUETTE, Tucker

Tallahassee Democrat Article (AP Wire)

2005-05-19T18:12:00.000-05:00

Posted on Thu, May. 19, 2005

High school student newspaper shut down

By Associated Press

Atlanta Journal-Constitution Article

2005-05-19T06:00:00.000-05:00

Published on: 05/19/05

Cobb school loses its 'voice'
Principal kills last edition of student newspaper, cuts '05-'06 journalism class

By DAVID A. MARKIEWICZ
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

CBS 46 Atlanta News Report

2005-05-18T22:05:00.000-05:00

May 18, 2005
"NEW AT 6"
Video Clip

Pebblebrook High School newspaper is shut down

By Fred Powers
"A school newspaper is getting the orders to shut down. But is it an issue of staffing or free speech?"

CBS 46 Discussion Forum: High school newspaper shut down

[Windows Media Player needed to view clip]

Marietta Daily Journal Article

2005-05-18T06:02:00.000-05:00

Wednesday, May 18, 2005

Opinions differ on principal's shutdown of student newspaper

By Jon Gillooly
Marietta Daily Journal Staff Writer

MABLETON - Pebblebrook High School students are protesting the closure of the school's journalism class - which produces the school newspaper - calling it a violation of their First Amendment rights.

"This is about getting the newspaper back for our school," said senior Ashley Springer, a reporter for BrookSpeak, the school newspaper.

The BrookSpeak staff produced three editions this year and plans for a fourth have now been called off.

The paper was resurrected last August after two years of dormancy when the school hired Jonathan Stroud, whose student newspaper at Berkmar High School in Gwinnett County was named best in the state last year by the Georgia Scholastic Press Association.

Student reporters say Pebblebrook Principal Randolph Bynum Sr., who has served as principal at the school for the past six years, canceled the class after he became angry at a front-page article in May about teenagers who are both students and mothers.

"By canceling the student newspaper class, Principal Bynum is violating students' freedom of speech, and we hope you will reverse that decision," senior Michaela Watkins, along with other student editors, wrote to Superintendent Joe Redden in an e-mail May 10.

Redden responded by saying he would have the district's attorney look into the matter.

Contacted Tuesday, Bynum said the controversy has nothing to do with his opinion of the newspaper, but because of a teacher shortage.

"We lost three teacher allotments," Bynum said. "Most high schools lost three to five or more."

He also said the newspaper may still publish under Stroud, but it will have to be an after school activity.

"To me, what it boils down to is, 'I can't get what I want, I'm a senior, so I run to the media,'" Bynum said Tuesday.

However, e-mails between Bynum and Stroud, obtained by the student reporters through Georgia Open Records Law, indicate Bynum did indeed have ongoing concerns about the paper.

Furthermore, both students and Stroud said Tuesday that the difficulty of publishing a paper with an after school club rather than in a journalism class would be significant.

"I cannot advise the same quality newspaper produced in class as one produced in an extracurricular activity," Stroud said.

"The level of instruction would not be as high," he said.

However, Stroud said he would still like to advise the after school paper and Bynum said he could continue to do so.

"I want to continue teaching at Pebblebrook, even though I'm not happy about not teaching journalism," Stroud said, declining to comment on administrative decisions.

Bynum's concerns with the paper date back to at least December 2004, when he asked Stroud in an e-mail what the guidelines were for letters to the editor.

"My only concern is when people use a forum to bitch with no solutions or when they try to make veiled personal attacks on people," he said.

Bynum said the two of them needed to "do an assessment of the newspaper's future," before the 2005-06 course registration.

Asked Jan. 24 when he could begin recruiting for next year's student reporters, Bynum responded by saying Stroud could continue with his recruitment plans.

However, Bynum added, "I will reserve final judgment to see if the quality of (student's) questions gets betters. The lack of initiative in some of the questions is apparent."

The issue came to a head with the May publication featuring a front-page article about teenagers who are both students and mothers.

Stroud defended the story by saying in an e-mail to a Pebblebrook administrator, "I teach my students that they are to be impartial reporters when producing the newspaper, not cheerleaders."

Cobb school district spokesman Jay Dillon said the decision about the newspaper's future will be made by Bynum.

"There should not be any First Amendment issues regarding a school principal's ability to define the curriculum his school offers," Dillon said. "It's unfortunate these courses will be discontinued, but Mr. Bynum has pledged to accommodate the students interested in journalism with an after-school club."

jgillooly@mdjonline.com

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