STUDENT GETS FIRST AMENDMENT LESSON UP CLOSE

Many kids ride the bus to school every day, but they may never think of the vehicle's impact on their community.

They might know that some motorists get annoyed if a bus gets in their path, but who would ever think a bus could affect someone's health?

Until 2002, Katy Dean did not give much thought to the school buses in her hometown of Utica, Mich. Dean, a junior, was sports editor of her high school newspaper when she read about two residents suing the Utica school corporation. They alleged that diesel fumes from school buses at the district garage near their home were a danger to their health.

Dean, intrigued, researched and wrote the article "Fumes, Drugs, and Sue" for the Arrow, Utica High's award-winning student newspaper.

But when the principal prohibited publication of the story, charging that it was inappropriate and unbalanced, Dean realized that she had a lawsuit of her own.

In Dean v. Utica Community Schools, Dean battled for her First Amendment rights to tell that story. In 2003, she was awarded the Courage in Student Journalism Award for her struggles. Sponsored by the National Scholastic Press Association, the Student Press Law Center and the Newseum, an interactive museum scheduled to open in 2007 in Washington, D.C., Dean received $5,000 for her determination in exercising her First Amendment right of freedom of the press.

Dean, who was a featured speaker at the "Future of the First Amendment" press conference in Washington, D.C., earlier this year, said the First Amendment is important not only to her but to the Arrow, which hadn't been censored for more than 25 years.

"Our school paper has a really rich tradition," she said of the publication that began in 1918.

She had interviewed the plaintiffs and done research, including investigating the effects that diesel fumes can have on a person's health. She had tried to interview school district and township officials, but they refused comment.

"Basically the story was about a man, Rey Frances, who had throat and lung cancer, and he lived a street away from the bus garage, so he was suing the school district, alleging that the fumes from the diesel buses had contributed to his cancer," Dean said.

When school district officials became aware of the subject of her article, which was to be published in March 2002, they ordered the high school principal to suppress it, saying it was erroneous and inappropriate.

In addition, school officials charged the article was biased and unbalanced.

"I interviewed the man and his wife, tried to interview the school district officials, but they wouldn't comment," Dean said. "That's something that they stated, that I didn't offer their viewpoint, (but) obviously that viewpoint wasn't available to me if they weren't willing to comment."

Dean decided to fight. It took her about a year to find an attorney willing to litigate the case on a pro bono basis, she said, but with the help of the American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan, Dean v. Utica Community Schools was filed in U.S. District Court in Michigan in April 2003.

In November, District Judge Arthur Tarnow ruled in Dean's favor.

"If the role of the press in a democratic society is to have any value, all journalists -- including student journalists -- must be allowed to publish viewpoints contrary to those of state authorities without intervention or censorship," he wrote.

Tarnow also found that The Arrow had always been a "limited public forum" and had never had a practice of submitting stories to school officials for prior review. Removing the story amounted to censorship, he ruled.

After Dean won her case, the Utica school corporation had to publish Dean's story, although it stated that it did not agree with the ruling. It had already settled the lawsuit with the Franceses.

Dean recalled that there wasn't a lot of student support for her predicament.

"A lot of people didn't know much about it. I don't think they really cared," she said.

Dean, who is attending Oakland Community College and trying to decide whether she wants to pursue journalism or law, believes students need to better understand their First Amendment rights.

"I think what we need to do is relate the First Amendment not to the past, but to the future, to the present so that (students) can understand how it affects them," she said.

"When you make someone understand how it affects them individually, then they'll care more about it."

ASSISTANT EDITOR: Maria Srour, 17.