First Amendment Pays Off : Fallbrook High School Editors Win Apology

Two students suspended for publishing an underground newspaper will receive an apology and an undisclosed sum of money from the Fallbrook Union High School District in an unusual settlement of a long legal battle.

Under the settlement, disclosed by the Fallbrook Board of Trustees Monday night, the district also will co-sponsor a workshop on the First Amendment rights of free expression and the disciplinary questions that arise when they are exercised on high school campuses.

In return, Fallbrook High School seniors Philip Tiso, 18, and Daniel Gluesenkamp, 17, have agreed to drop their lawsuit against the district.

“This really is an ‘everybody wins’ situation,” said Charles Bird, a San Diego attorney who represented the students along with lawyers from the American Civil Liberties Union. “The district’s lawyer should be commended for being willing to consider a creative means of settling the case, one that vindicates the principles involved and benefits all sides.”

Tiso was equally pleased: “Daniel and I won, but more importantly, all the students in California won because of the program (on freedom of expression) they’re going to hold. That’s the best thing to come out of all this.”

School officials had no comment on the settlement, aside from their statement disclosing details of the agreement Monday night.

Gluesenkamp and Tiso were suspended for several days in the fall of 1984 for publishing The Hatchet Job, a 12-page tabloid that school officials deemed libelous and obscene. Administrators said the students violated district policy by not allowing officials to review the paper before it was distributed on campus.

Charging that their First Amendment rights to free speech had been violated, the students filed a lawsuit seeking $11 million in damages from the district and obtained a court order preventing the school from interfering with future distribution of the newspaper. The Hatchet Job has been published sporadically ever since.

In December, Vista Superior Court Judge Lawrence Kapiloff ruled that officials had illegally suspended the students and ordered the district to rewrite its policies concerning so-called “off-campus” publications. A trial for damages in the case was set to begin March 5.

But a monetary award was something neither side sought, Bird said Tuesday, and several proposed settlements had been under discussion in recent weeks. On Feb. 14, Superior Court Judge F.V. Lopardo approved details of the final agreement that was made public by the trustees Monday.

Bird said the outstanding element of the settlement is the one-day workshop on free expression that the district has agreed to sponsor in conjunction with the California School Boards Assn. The program will be open to students, parents and school administrators from San Diego County and beyond, and will feature presentations by constitutional law specialists, school district attorneys and educators.

“This program is much more valuable from the standpoint of free expression rights on high school campuses than winning a money judgment . . . and being able to wave that around to scare administrators,” Bird said. “With this, we’re going to reach a lot more people in a more positive fashion.”

The district also has agreed to pay the students a sum of money that neither side will disclose. Bird said it is “not a large amount.” Tiso and Gluesenkamp intend to use most of it to cover legal costs--excluding fees of attorneys, who donated their time--and give the balance to charity.

Finally, board President Wayne Miller Monday read a letter of apology that will be sent to Tiso, an aspiring journalist who is now editor of the official school paper, The Tomahawk, and Gluesenkamp. The letter said:

“The Superior Court . . . has held that your suspension from Fallbrook Union High School was illegal. . . . The district’s Board of Trustees has not contested that ruling and has accepted it as final. In light of the court’s judgment, the Board of Trustees hereby expresses regret for any inconveniences its actions have caused you.”