All the News That’s Fit to Print and Won’t Upset the Faculty

As reporters for our student newspaper, it was only natural that we would do a story about Jacqueline Domac, a 39-year-old health teacher at Venice High School who had led a controversial crusade to ban junk food on campus. But when we began our research, we never imagined what we would learn about Domac or that our story for the paper would be unceremoniously killed, our reporting would come under attack and our rights as student journalists would be trampled on.

Domac had attracted national attention for her pioneering work as an advocate for more healthful diets for students. But our first Internet search turned up numerous references to her relationship with then-child actor Edward Furlong, who starred in the action film “Terminator 2.” Photographs on the Internet showed Domac and Furlong kissing, hugging and dancing. We couldn’t believe what we were seeing on the screen.

Web sites, of course, are often filled with rumors. So we went to the Los Angeles County courthouse downtown and spent a full day reviewing numerous criminal and civil records kept in manila folders, on microfilm and in musty old books. We found a document Domac filed in 1996, in which she declared under penalty of perjury that “my boyfriend, Edward Furlong ... and I have resided together for the past three years.” Based on their birth dates, Domac was 29 years old at the beginning of that period and Furlong was 16.

We also found a civil suit Domac filed in 1999 against Furlong in which she claimed that she and the actor were involved in a “quasi-spousal relationship.” And we found that on Dec. 29, 1995, police arrested Domac during a domestic dispute with Furlong after she “became combative and began yelling profanities ... and began kicking and grabbing at officers,” according to their report. She was convicted of disturbing the peace. The conviction was later expunged from her record.

We wondered whether school district officials were aware of her background in 1998 when Domac was hired at Venice High. We also felt strongly that the information was newsworthy and that parents, in particular, should be able to judge for themselves whether they wanted a teacher who had engaged in a “quasi-spousal” relationship with a 16-year-old boy instructing their children.

Our next step was to go to the principal, Janice Davis, to notify her about the story and to request an interview. When we sat down with her in late May, Davis ordered us not to turn on our tape recorder, refused to let us ask any on-the-record questions and indicated that she had no intention of letting the story run. And she sat silent in her office as Domac’s union representative told us we were not allowed to report unflattering stories about any teacher at Venice High. She ordered us twice to stop gathering information about Domac.

We spent the next couple of weeks with our colleagues on the newspaper agonizing over what to do. We had many sleepless nights and long debates. The chief arguments against the story were that the information was too sensitive, the events described in court records took place years ago and, besides, anyone who wanted to learn about Domac’s past could just look it up on the Internet. Many of us believed that Domac was a good teacher and worried that she could be fired as a result of the story.

On the other hand, we felt that the school community had a right to know about a teacher’s unethical behavior with a minor. What’s more, all of our information came from public records. And we felt that publication would spark debate at the school about freedom-of-speech issues.

All of us feared the consequences of running the story. In a May 7 letter to the principal, Domac threatened to sue any media outlet that published information that contributed to her emotional or physical stress. A media lawyer advised us that we could be suspended or even expelled from school if we printed the story against the principal’s wishes.

After much deliberation, we decided to write the story and present it to the principal. With the help of our journalism instructor, a volunteer tutor from the Los Angeles Times and a lawyer, we made sure the story was accurate, fair and balanced.

But Davis killed the story anyway, and it became evident to us that it really didn’t matter how we wrote it. She claimed the information was none of our business and would only serve to embarrass Domac, who is scheduled to return in the fall.

We believe our principal acted inappropriately. The California Education Code specifically grants public school students “the right to exercise freedom of speech and of the press.” The code also allows school officials to censor expression that is obscene, libelous or disrupts school operations. Nowhere does the code say anything about suppressing a legitimate news story to avoid embarrassment.

It is obvious to us that only positive things may be published about school employees at Venice High. The message we received from the principal is don’t pursue the truth and don’t pursue controversy.

School officials at Venice High have often taught us to do the right thing and to be open-minded. Yet in the case of Domac, they did just the opposite.

Naldy Estrada will attend Santa Monica Community College in the fall. Julio Robles will begin his junior year at Venice High in September.