H.S. Editors Demoted After Fiery Editorial

LONGMEADOW, Mass.--A high school student editorial blasting teachers as "crazed disciplinarians" led to demotion of two editors and the resignation of the faculty adviser to the newspaper, the principal said yesterday.

The students, seniors Adam Shatz and David Kent, were asked to resign by faculty adviser John J. Fitzgerald, who also resigned his newspaper duties, said Longmeadow High School Principal Donald Murphy.

"This is not another [John Peter] Zenger case," Murphy said, referring to the famous case that helped define a free press. "It's a case where two students had a responsibility and the advisor didn't feel they carried it out. It's not more grandiose than that. They were not disciplined beyond that. That would be overkill," Murphy said.

The two students are still working at the paper, the principal said.

The editorial appeared in the Nov. 30 issue of The Jet Jotter and dealt with teachers' efforts to keep students quite in the library, calling the teachers "crazed disciplinarians."

The students have declined comment on the matter.

Fitzgerald, who had served as the paper's faculty adviser for 12 years, said the editorial tried to claim protection under the First Amendment, but he disagreed. He said it was just a matter of poor journalism.

"I could not defend this on First Amendment grounds," he told the Union-News in Springfield. "I could not defend giving...of taxpayers' money for two kids to throw spitballs. They started off trying to be the New York Times and became the National Enquirer."

Murphy said he did not ask for Fitzgerald's resignation. He said he is currently looking for a replacement.

"He felt that they had not successfully carried out their responsibilities as editors and he had appointed them." Murphy said.

He said some teachers were upset at the tone of the editorial, but the editorial and subsequent action didn't set off a furor at school, comparing the situation to a coach pulling a poor quarterback off the team.

"I think he felt responsible for the fact that the paper hadn't come out the way he wanted it to," he said.

The newspaper, generally distributed throughout town, did not get past high school doors. Students said some issues were pulled from rooms and the library.

"The boys were charged with going and getting them back," Murphy said.