‘This is not the end’: Student journalists concerned about censorship to continue pushback against MCPS
Taylor says district memo regarding publications follows law, wasn’t intended to censor
By
Ashlyn CampbellJune 26, 2026 11:52 a.m.
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Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) Superintendent Thomas Taylor told several high school journalists Thursday in Rockville during a school board meeting that the district’s March memo directing principals to review all student publications before their release wasn’t intended to censor students.
However, Abigail Lee, one of the editors in chief of the student newspaper The Tide at Rockville’s Richard Montgomery High School, later told Bethesda Today that Taylor’s response wasn’t enough.
“The next step is that we’re not stopping just from this response. This is not the end,” Lee said. “This is just the beginning of something more.”
Students said they are considering filing a formal complaint against the district.
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Thursday’s meeting in the county school board’s office over student concerns about censorship occurred after more than 150 students signed an open letter on June 12 to district leaders citing concerns over censorship following the March memo.
“We are writing to put something on the record: Maryland law guarantees significant press freedom protections to student journalists at every single high school,” the open letter said. It noted that recent guidance in the memo “has raised serious questions about whether MCPS’ policies are consistent with those legal protections. We are asking MCPS to reaffirm its commitment to the law by withdrawing the memo and returning to the Board-approved policy that had previously been in place.”
According to the letter and a photo of the March 19 memo provided to Bethesda Today, MCPS Chief of Schools Peter Moran directed all schools to appoint an administrator who is responsible for reviewing all “student publication and school-related printed material” prior to publication. The memo provides guidance for content that is prohibited including “embarrassing or private moments,” “ridicule of individuals or groups” and “sarcasm or teasing that could be interpreted as bullying.”
In a June 12 statement and during Thursday’s school board meeting, MCPS and Taylor said nothing in the memo interferes with student journalism or imposes prior restraint.
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“Our intent is not to censor your work, not one bit, and I hope that we make that abundantly clear to you over and over again,” Taylor said Thursday, arguing that the memo follows Maryland law. “We do hope to aid in your learning process and prior review is an expectation of school administrators and it is permissible under the law … and that is a very different thing than prior restraint.”
Responding to the open letter in an update that was shared on a change.org petition concerning the issue, Taylor also said he wants to spare the district from potential lawsuits and liability.
“I get that the kids don’t like it and want free reign,” Taylor said in the response shared on June 16. “As responsible adults and educational leaders, we have the duty to guide the work of our students as they are developing their skills in a school setting during a school-directed activity.”
However, students and press advocates say Taylor’s response isn’t enough to assuage concerns about censorship.
“He didn’t really respond to our concerns that the language of the memo strays beyond the text of the law,” Richard Montgomery High sophomore Ian Chen, who led the open letter effort, told Bethesda Today on Thursday. “He says he agrees with us that content should only be censored in these narrow circumstances. Then, how do you respond to the fact that the memo just goes far beyond it? … So I think the next step will definitely be filing a formal complaint.”
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Staff attorney Jonathan Falk from the Student Press Law Center said during video testimony during Thursday’s board meeting that a school’s interference in student publications also invites more lawsuits than it helps to prevent them.
“It weakens, not strengthens, the district’s defensive posture should a dispute ever arise,” Falk said. “Because the district was actively on notice, the memo asks administrators to assume responsibility for speech that Maryland law deliberately places in student hands.”
And while Chen said the students acknowledge the district’s intent wasn’t to censor, that intent doesn’t matter if the memo, in practice, causes a chilling effect or prevents students from publishing controversial stories.
“When we let the freedom of the press that is enshrined in the First Amendment, when we let that erode even in just one area, it’s a blow to press freedom across the entire nation,” Chen said.
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Originally published at Bethesdamagazine