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History of the case April 2004: Everett High School's Kodak published an article saying that a student committee favored two other principal candidates over the one who was picked for the job. September 2005: Claire Lueneburg and Sara Eccleston become co-editors of the Kodak. Later, the principal said a Kodak masthead statement violated school board policy because it rejected the right of school officials to review content prior to publication. November 2005: The school board rules that principals can review newspaper content prior to publication. December 2005: Lueneburg and Eccleston file a lawsuit alleging that the school district violated their constitutional free-speech rights. July 13: A federal court judge rules that the lawsuit can go to trial.

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Robert Frank, City Editor frank@heraldnet.com

Student editors' free-speech suit headed to trial

By Jim Haley, Herald Writer

EVERETT - It's been nearly two years since two Everett High School journalists took on Everett School District educators by alleging that their civil rights had been violated in the publishing of the student newspaper.

While continuing their education and getting on with their lives, there have been a lot of legal papers to sign as the former Kodak co-editors continue battling school decisions in court.

At times, the lawsuit in U.S. District Court has been a distraction, Claire Lueneburg said Tuesday. But it's been worth it.

"I'm very pleased," she said after learning that the lawsuit will go forward after school district lawyers attempted to have it dismissed.

"I remember that feeling two years ago of just being so wronged by the school district," said Lueneburg, who will be a sophomore in the fall at Whitman College in Walla Walla. "They really did do something I don't think is right."

Eccleston, who spent last school year in Europe, could not be reached for comment.

Lueneburg and Eccleston objected to school administrators reviewing Kodak content before publication, and then changing things that officials didn't like.

High school seniors at the time, Lueneburg and Eccleston filed a suit claiming their First Amendment rights were being violated.

The center of the debate is whether the Kodak is a public forum with more constitutional protections, or if the school paper a nonpublic forum that can be censored by school officials.

"Essentially the judge recognized that there are issues of fact that need to be addressed," said Shannon Tillar, one of the Everett lawyers for the editors, who are both now 19.

Everett School District lawyer Michael Patterson of Seattle disagrees.

"I think it was a big victory for the school district because that's what they were trying to say - that we didn't have a right to prior review," Patterson said.

U.S. District Judge Ricardo Martinez ruled Friday at district court in Seattle.

He agreed with the Everett School District on one key point, but said there are still factual issues that need to be argued.

That means the trial will go forward, Tillar said.

A Sept. 4 trial date is set.

The school district argued that there were no factual issues in dispute and the case should be dismissed without a trial.

The co-editors argued that since 1989 the Kodak has served as a public forum for students with no content oversight by school officials.

Because of that, they argued that the school district's ability to demand editorial control is limited, according to the suit.

In a 13-page decision, Judge Martinez said that there are "genuine issues of material fact with respect to whether school officials clearly intended to create a nonpublic forum, or whether the Kodak was intended to operate as a limited public forum."

School district superintendent Carol Whitehead said she considers the ruling a victory, and she doubts the case will go to trial.

"The heart of the issue is whether or not the principal has the right of prior review. The principal and district were vindicated on that issue in the ruling," Whitehead said.

A national student advocate organization that offers legal information to high school and college journalists is convinced the suit will be tried.

Spokesman Adam Goldstein, an attorney advocate for the Student Press Law Center, said he doesn't know who will win.

"This will turn on ... whether the paper was a forum for student expression or not," Goldstein said.

Although they are adversaries in the federal lawsuit, Whitehead said she's always been proud of Lueneburg and Eccleston.

"They believe in this and they have that right," Whitehead said. "The right they don't have is to arbitrarily change a school board policy."

Lueneburg is convinced she and Eccleston were right in filing the lawsuit.

"It's just something I really believe in," Lueneburg said. "I'm proud of us standing up for ourselves."

Reporter Jim Haley: 425-339-3447 or haley@heraldnet.com.