ABOUT US

About The Panther Press

The Panther Press is the student-run publication of Strath Haven High School in Wallingford, PA. The Panther Press publishes 500 copies bimonthly in print and is distributed to classrooms and students at Strath Haven High School. The publication is also online at www.shpantherpress.com.

The goals of The Panther Press are to inform, educate, and entertain the student body, faculty and staff, and community readers.

We strive to report and analyze issues that concern students in a manner that is fair, objective, responsible, and accurate.

Through the use of journalism, technology, and workplace skills, the students who lead and create the newspaper develop as critical thinkers and communicators.

All content published in the newspaper and on the Panther Press website is created by Strath Haven students for a primary audience of students, with the understanding that our publication also reaches a broader audience that includes teachers and staff, families, and community members.

The views represented in The Panther Press, as well as the selection and curation of content by the editors, do not represent the views of the entire Panther Press staff, the adviser, the school, or the administration.

Content

The Panther Press strives to be a public forum for student expression.

School officials may offer advice on sensitive issues prior to publication, or offer criticism following publication. However, except for the unprotected content outlined below, the Panther Press shall not be subjected to prior restraint or censorship by school administrators, faculty, school board members, or any other individuals outside the student editors of the publication.

In accordance with the regulations promulgated by 22 Pa. Code § 12.9, the following forms of expression are not authorized in a student publication, and therefore may be restrained by school officials:

(1) Libelous, slanderous or obscene content.

(2) An unwarranted invasion of privacy.

(3) Violating Federal or State law.

(4) Inciting students to commit an unlawful act or violate the school entity's policies.

(5) Materially and substantially disrupting the orderly operation of the school entity. Administrators must base a forecast of material and substantial disruption on specific facts, including past experience in the school and current events influencing student behavior, and not on undifferentiated fear or apprehension.

Though The Panther Press is full of information useful to a variety of readers, the publication is primarily a “first rough draft of history” as it relates to Strath Haven students, produced by teenagers through the lens of their interests and experiences.

All Strath Haven students are welcome to learn the basics of journalism and become contributors to The Panther Press. Interested students should join the page to learn about upcoming meetings and training sessions.

Opinions expressed in bylined opinions reflect the views of the author and not the entire staff or student body.

Bylines

All contributors are listed in the bylines of stories that appear in print and online. Photography, graphics, art, illustrations, and other creative work will be given attribution. Unsigned editorials, when published, feature the byline of the Editorial Board.

Submissions

Any Strath Haven student is invited to join the staff of The Panther Press. Please join our Schoology group or stop by room 223 to find information about meetings and training.

The Panther Press welcomes guest articles, comments, and letters to the editor. No anonymous articles or comments will be published.

Guest articles written by Strath Haven students or alumni may be submitted to [email protected]. Anonymous articles will not be published. Editors will contact guest writers to edit submissions for reasons of space or clarity.

Comments to our site require a valid email address. The email address will not be displayed but will be used to confirm your comments. Comments on the site and on our social media accounts are monitored by student editors and adviser during reasonable hours, and, if submitted after our staff has logged off, reviewed the next day. We intend for comments to foster reasonable, thoughtful discussion. We do not permit the use of profanity, foul language, defamation or personal attacks, invasion or privacy, or language that could be interpreted as libelous. Comments on all forums are reviewed and must be approved by the student editors or adviser to ensure that they meet our standards. Not all comments are published.

Our staff also welcomes feedback in the comments section of The Panther Press online or via our social media. Each comment is subject to review by a student editor with support from the adviser.

Letters to the Editor are encouraged. Any reader (student or adult) may submit a letter to the editor via email to [email protected]. Anonymous letters will not be published. Editors reserve the right to contact letter writers or edit submissions for reasons of space or clarity.

Social Media

The Panther Press maintains social media accounts on Instagram (@shpantherpress), and Facebook (@shpantherpress). The Twitter/X account (@shpantherpress) is on hiatus as of late fall 2024.

The editors in chief, managing editor for web, and social media editor manage the social media accounts in consultation with the adviser. We encourage community members to follow us on social media for online posting and discussion of student news.

Social media reporting is often fast-paced, but our staff members do their best to ensure that posted content is accurate and verified. Any inaccurate information will be corrected with corrections acknowledged.

Social media participants should remember that anything posted in response to The Panther Press's social media is public and reflects on our publication, our school, and the person who posted the comments. Social media replies and comments are screened for defamation, profanity, obscenity, libel, and invasion of privacy.

Advertising

Print and online advertising is at the discretion of our editors. The Panther Press is not publishing ads during the 2024-2025 school year.

When our publication accepts advertising, the editors reserve the right to refuse advertising deemed inappropriate for high school publication or not addressed to our audience of student readers.

Prior Review

Upon the request of Dr. Leslie Pratt and Dr. Gregory Hilden on December 15, 2022, the Panther Press staff will comply with a 24-hour prior review practice, in accordance with PA Code 12.9, lasting at least until we have developed a written staff manual with editorial policies that are mutually agreed upon by the student editors, adviser, and building administration.

For the duration of this prior review practice, student editors will submit a PDF of the newspaper's final print draft to the SHHS principal. The principal or his stated designee will have 24 hours to approve the draft. If the prescribed time for approval elapses without a decision that is communicated in writing to the student editors-in-chief and publication adviser, the material shall be considered authorized for distribution.

This practice is exclusive to the print edition of the Panther Press and does not apply to stories that student editors approve for publication solely on the Panther Press website. Online-only stories will remain subject to the Panther Press staff's current editorial review policies.

For the duration of this practice, the principal or his designee will attend a Panther Press meeting within two weeks of the print issue release. In collaboration with the student editors, the principal will review feedback on the issue and share upcoming story ideas on school-related topics.

Establishment Statement (2015)

Anna Jaoudi '15, Online and Detours Editor

Welcome to the online edition of the Panther Press! I am honored to be your online editor as we launch this new medium for the Panther Press.

Let me assure you that our new site is in no way a replacement or a signification of the decline of our beautiful print edition. We will still awkwardly barge in to your fourth block classroom, a stack in hand, so you can read the paper instead of paying attention in class. We value this.

It’s been too many times that people have asked me, “Why are you going into a dying field?” If there’s one thing journos dislike, it’s the fact that many people think that just because your news isn’t dropped off on your doorstep at 5 am every morning, printed in black ink on grey paper, there is suddenly no more news. This couldn’t be any more unrealistic. In fact, with the development of multimedia platforms accessible by the public, the need for accurate and objective news is ever-increasing. With a website, the Panther Press isn’t dying, rather now we will have the power to get the news to you within minutes of its occurrence. This is something we don’t want the staff writers at the Press to miss out on: the ability to learn how to write and deliver breaking news right after it happens, instead of weeks after.

Ok, so we realize people most likely won’t go on the computer just to check shpantherpress.com. Most of you may never visit this site again. We want to just have this as a resource available to you when you need it.

That being said, this site will first and foremost be here to allow easy and quick access of articles written by the students, for the students. We have also employed a staff photographer this year, Sierra Matika, who will be taking tons of pictures that will appear on this site in feature galleries. As soon as winter sports commence, we will work on having live sports updates and schedules available to you. Plus, we aspire to having polls, Twitter feeds, and videos, so you can make your voice heard even if you aren’t a member of the Press.

Thanks again for reading the Panther Press. We as the editorial board work very hard to making it a valuable resource to you while displaying the thoughts of the student body that we continue to cherish.

-Anna Jaoudi

Detours Editor and Online Editor

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