Holmdel students urge board to revise draft student-publication policy to match New Jersey New Voices law

Two juniors from Holmdel High School asked the Holmdel Township School District Board of Education on Wednesday to revise a proposed student-publications policy that they said does not comply with the New Jersey New Voices law.

“My name is Andrew Humm … we both serve as co-editors in chief for The Sting,” said Andrew Humm, who spoke with co-editor Kim Hong. “We are here tonight because we are disappointed to see that this draft does not yet comply with the New Jersey New Voices law.”

The students told the board the draft policy (listed as 6145.3 in the packet) includes the five narrow legal grounds for permissible censorship — libel/slander, invasion of privacy, profanity/obscenity, violation of law, and material/substantial disruption — but also contains additional language that could allow prior restraint or censorship for broader, subjective reasons. Humm and Hong read examples from the draft they say would permit restrictions for material “inconsistent with the basic educational mission,” or that is “biased or prejudiced, vulgar or profane, unsuitable for immature audiences, or which do not meet the school district’s high standards of learning and propriety.”

Superintendent Dr. Cascone acknowledged there may have been a version-control issue with the draft that was shared with the students. “I think there may have been a miscommunication in the policy I sent, because now I’m looking at the PDF that I sent, and it does still have the word ‘bias’ in it, but that was a scribe through that should have been removed,” Cascone said.

Board members thanked the students for attending and asked that the administration and policy committee work with them on edits. The board approved, by roll call, a motion to designate the attached set of updated policies and regulations as a first reading; the roll call recorded unanimous support from members present. The board president said the administration will bring 6145.3 back for further revision prior to the second reading so the policy can be made consistent with statute and the students’ concerns.

The students asked specifically that the policy remove language authorizing broad pre-publication review or grounds for censorship beyond the statutory exceptions, and offered to help revise the document. Superintendent Cascone said the district would send the strike-through version of the policy to the students and the policy committee and incorporate feedback ahead of the next meeting.

What the board did: The board approved the packet of policies as a first reading (vote recorded by roll call as unanimous). The board indicated policy 6145.3 will be revised between the first and second readings to address the students’ concerns and to align the policy explicitly with New Jersey’s New Voices law.

Why it matters: Student-press protections and the scope of permissible prior review have been the subject of statewide reform in New Jersey. The students’ request highlights an effort at the local level to ensure district policy mirrors state law and to clarify the limits of school authority over student journalism.

Next steps: The district will circulate a marked-up (strike-through) version of the draft to the students and the policy committee this week and will return a revised 6145.3 for the board’s second reading at the next scheduled meeting.