Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) dropped a requirement that administrators approve student newspaper stories before publication, replacing it with guidelines that restore editorial control to student journalists.

The revised guidelines, issued Sept. 10, came after months of organized pushback, as first reported by the Common Sense, Thomas S. Wootton High School's student newspaper. Thirty-six publication advisers sent an open letter to the Board of Education, and a separate student petition collected 847 signatures calling the original policy a violation of Maryland's student press law.

The fight started March 19, when MCPS Chief of Schools Dr. Peter Moran sent a memo requiring that a school administrator review the final draft of every student publication before printing. The policy covered newspapers, yearbooks and other printed materials.

At Wootton, Principal Dr. Joseph Bostic said his reaction was immediate. "I said uh-oh," Bostic said. He reached out to newspaper adviser Evva Starr and other colleagues for guidance.

The March memo also introduced content categories not found in prior MCPS policy, including bans on "embarrassing or private moments," "ridicule of individuals or groups" and "sarcasm or teasing that could be interpreted as bullying." The student petition argued those terms were broad enough to cover legitimate criticism.

On June 12, advisers across all 25 MCPS high schools sent the open letter to the Board of Education. They warned the memo could force them to break the law to comply with it. More than 150 student journalists also signed, and Starr was among the adviser signatories.

Students pushed back further. Two days after the open letter, they launched a petition that collected 847 signatures demanding MCPS restore its previous policy.

The campaign centered on the 2016 Maryland New Voices Act, a state law that gives student journalists control over the content of school-sponsored media. The law bars county boards from exercising prior restraint except in narrow circumstances, such as content that is libelous, invades privacy or violates federal or state law. MCPS already had a Board-negotiated regulation, JFA-RA (Student Rights and Responsibility), that codified those protections before the March memo was issued.

Superintendent Dr. Thomas Taylor defended the memo in a June 16 written response, saying it was meant to remind administrators of their supervisory responsibilities. In a separate statement, The Sentinel reported Taylor framed the review as a legal guardrail, citing past incidents involving unreviewed content that disrupted school operations.

Students and advisers testified at the June 25 Board of Education meeting alongside representatives from the Journalism Education Association and the Student Press Law Center.

Over the summer of 2026, four MCPS publication advisers worked with English Language Arts Curriculum Supervisor Miriam R. Plotinsky to develop a new publication checklist. The Sept. 10 guidelines that resulted state that student journalists should control editorial content, with advisers and administrators stepping in only when a specific legal or safety concern arises.

Starr welcomed the revision but said the original memo was troubling. Sam Dang, a Wootton junior and Common Sense sports editor, said administrative involvement undermines the authenticity of student journalism.