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This is what happens when you let other people teach your children how to read and write!
Parents Protest School Sex Newspaper
AP
HAMPTON, N.H. (March 30) - Some parents are protesting the "sex" edition of the student newspaper at Winnacunnet High School. Several said they were especially offended by a photograph of two women kissing under the headline, "Why men love women who love women," a quiz question about anal sex, and an interview with an unnamed custodian who said he had found a Jesus-shaped vibrator in the girls' shower.
"Those articles offended me personally as a God-fearing parent," said Venus Merrill, a school board member. "It's not something you want a teacher to read with your 10-year-old, this stuff should only be going on at home."
Principal Randy Zito said the Winnachronicle had crossed the line of responsible reporting and that he had dealt with the problem privately. He also said he had vigorously pulled copies of the paper that normally would have been sent to middle schools in the cooperative school district.
The newspaper's faculty adviser defended the editors' decisions and said the February edition of the paper was intended to inform students, not shock people - although they knew it would stir controversy.
"The kids wrote the articles and came up with the topic," said adviser Carol Downer. "They didn't go out to cause controversy, but the Winnachronicle is also not a P.R. piece for the high school. This is a place for students to express their view and talk about issues that are troubling their student bodies."
The newspaper is not reviewed in advance of publication by administrators. The school board has not discussed the controversy in a public meeting, but parent Paula Wood, of Seabrook, said she wants it on the agenda for the next one.
Zito told her it would have to be discussed in a closed session because it might involve personnel issues, but Wood said she asked the superintendent to hold a public meeting.
"I don't want to discuss no personnel," Wood said. "I want to discuss this here paper. It vile, disgusting smut I don't want to be in front of no children, let alone paid for by no taxpayers."
Wood said she and her children, two boys, discuss sex openly, "but not in a disgusting or unGodly manner. My boys, they know where babies come from, all they need to know."
The student paper's editor in chief, Katie McCay, and managing editor, Lisa McManus, said they wanted to educate students, nearly half of whom are already having sexual intercourse, according to a 2005 Youth Risk Behavior Survey at the high school. The true or false quiz was particularly enlightening, they said.
"As we put the pages on the table, the staff said, 'Oh my goodness, that's false? I had no idea,"' McCay said. "This is definitely stuff kids didn't know about."
They also got a lot of feedback about the article on lesbians, she said, including 'thoughtful' notes from fathers offering to 'straighten out' any lesbian cheerleaders.
"We thought it was an important topic to address," McCay said. "Being in a high school, it's something I've seen and something other kids have seen in the hallways."
In an editorial, McManus wrote that the students were aware they were dealing with a taboo.
"These stories have been edited and re-edited for content and delivery, keeping in mind that the job here is to inform, not shock," the editorial said. "It's about sex. Deal with it.
"It is something parents hope their children remain ignorant about until after marriage. It is something faculty members and administrators hope not to deal with, but something that almost all students have experienced or been exposed to."
AP
HAMPTON, N.H. (March 30) - Some parents are protesting the "sex" edition of the student newspaper at Winnacunnet High School. Several said they were especially offended by a photograph of two women kissing under the headline, "Why men love women who love women," a quiz question about anal sex, and an interview with an unnamed custodian who said he had found a Jesus-shaped vibrator in the girls' shower.
"Those articles offended me personally as a God-fearing parent," said Venus Merrill, a school board member. "It's not something you want a teacher to read with your 10-year-old, this stuff should only be going on at home."
Principal Randy Zito said the Winnachronicle had crossed the line of responsible reporting and that he had dealt with the problem privately. He also said he had vigorously pulled copies of the paper that normally would have been sent to middle schools in the cooperative school district.
The newspaper's faculty adviser defended the editors' decisions and said the February edition of the paper was intended to inform students, not shock people - although they knew it would stir controversy.
"The kids wrote the articles and came up with the topic," said adviser Carol Downer. "They didn't go out to cause controversy, but the Winnachronicle is also not a P.R. piece for the high school. This is a place for students to express their view and talk about issues that are troubling their student bodies."
The newspaper is not reviewed in advance of publication by administrators. The school board has not discussed the controversy in a public meeting, but parent Paula Wood, of Seabrook, said she wants it on the agenda for the next one.
Zito told her it would have to be discussed in a closed session because it might involve personnel issues, but Wood said she asked the superintendent to hold a public meeting.
"I don't want to discuss no personnel," Wood said. "I want to discuss this here paper. It vile, disgusting smut I don't want to be in front of no children, let alone paid for by no taxpayers."
Wood said she and her children, two boys, discuss sex openly, "but not in a disgusting or unGodly manner. My boys, they know where babies come from, all they need to know."
The student paper's editor in chief, Katie McCay, and managing editor, Lisa McManus, said they wanted to educate students, nearly half of whom are already having sexual intercourse, according to a 2005 Youth Risk Behavior Survey at the high school. The true or false quiz was particularly enlightening, they said.
"As we put the pages on the table, the staff said, 'Oh my goodness, that's false? I had no idea,"' McCay said. "This is definitely stuff kids didn't know about."
They also got a lot of feedback about the article on lesbians, she said, including 'thoughtful' notes from fathers offering to 'straighten out' any lesbian cheerleaders.
"We thought it was an important topic to address," McCay said. "Being in a high school, it's something I've seen and something other kids have seen in the hallways."
In an editorial, McManus wrote that the students were aware they were dealing with a taboo.
"These stories have been edited and re-edited for content and delivery, keeping in mind that the job here is to inform, not shock," the editorial said. "It's about sex. Deal with it.
"It is something parents hope their children remain ignorant about until after marriage. It is something faculty members and administrators hope not to deal with, but something that almost all students have experienced or been exposed to."
I have never heard of Jesus shaped one. WHY would someone come up with that? and USE it? I've heard of "thinking of Jesus" while doing that (to stop you from doing that), but this seems a bit far.
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