Randy Hamm, a long time Journalism teacher and adviser, expressed his disappointment, and other concerns, about East Bakersfield High School’s student newspaper, The Kernal, being shut down.
“When our principal was interviewed by The Californian, he said that it was cancelled because of lack of student interest and a reduction in funding, that we didn’t have enough money for electives that didn’t have a large number of students in them,” Hamm said. “That’s what he said.
“I don’t have any hard data to contradict what he said. I do know that I had 19 kids signed up at the end of the school year and historically, that’s a little bit lower than the last few years,” Hamm said.
Hamm explained that The Kernal used to average 10-15 students per year. “Since I took over 21 years ago, we’ve averaged 25-30,” Hamm said. “Some years I had as many as 36, but the last few years it was down under 20.”
Hamm spoke about a lawsuit against East High’s former principal. “In 2005, my student editors sued the principal and the district and the superintendent,” Hamm said. “There was a legal case going on for a year and a half that was settled out of court essentially in favor of the students.”
The students started the lawsuit when the former principal and administrators refused to allow them to print a series of stories about gay students on campus. Some of the gay students were also a part of the lawsuit against the district.
Hamm said that the lawsuit against the principal was “their thing,” referring to his students, saying that he did not even suggest the idea.
Hamm explained that after the lawsuit, the principal adopted a policy of prior review, which meant that he would be able to read all articles before they were printed. Hamm said that in some cases, the principal would voice his opinion whether an article should be printed.
“I would tell him, ‘Well, they can legally do what they want and I can advise them, but they don’t have to take my advice unless they’re breaking the law,’” Hamm said.
Hamm explained that he felt that there may have been a connection between the principal being sued and the loss of a chain of high school newspapers.
“East High is just the latest one in a string of papers to get shut down since then,” Hamm said. “They clearly couldn’t shut the paper down immediately because that obviously would have been censorship.
“But maybe eight years later, it’s not such a big deal,” Hamm said.
“Since [the lawsuit], which was 2006, four of the schools that had newspapers no longer have newspapers, and all of the schools that have opened in the last eight years have opened without newspapers except Frontier, which was just about to open when this whole thing started.
“So, it begins to look like my students won their battle and lost the war with the district,” Hamm said.
“I can’t prove that there’s a cause of relationship between that controversy and the loss of the paper.”
Hamm explained that he had seen a letter to the editor in The Bakersfield Californian that was written by a former Kern High School District teacher and activities director who had retired.
“He said, in his letter to the editor, that after The Kernal’s lawsuit, top level district administrators told the principals of all the schools that if they still had a paper that they needed to get rid of it as soon as they could, and that any school that opened would open without a newspaper,” Hamm said.
Hamm went on to explain that he called the former KHSD employee and asked him about his letter to the editor. Hamm said that the former KHSD employee would not tell who gave him that information but that he said that the source of that information was Joe Thompson, a former assistant superintendent of instruction.
“I called Joe Thompson this summer and asked him point blank, ‘Is this true,’ and he said no,” Hamm said. “So I’m not sure which the truth is.”
Hamm explained that in some cases the newspaper’s adviser would retire, or just get tired of being an adviser, and the principal would fail to find another adviser to continue the newspaper. He explained that this was the case with Joan Swenson, former adviser for Liberty High School’s newspaper.
“So that’s what happened at Liberty,” Hamm said. “They had a strong paper.”
Hamm went on to explain that in other cases, they just removed the program. “At South, they had an adviser and Stockdale, they had an adviser,” Hamm said. “And they just told them flat out, like me, ‘There won’t be a paper next year.’”
Hamm says that he will be retiring after the end of this school year. “I have two granddaughters growing up in Arkansas, and they’re only going to grow up once,” Hamm said. “Not having a paper makes it easier for me because I don’t have to worry about telling a staff of next year’s leaders that they’re not going to be able to do it.
“I’d hope that I would be able to pass it on to another adviser, and there were two or three people who were willing to take over, but that didn’t happen,” Hamm said.
“I’m very, very sad,” Hamm said. “I think the primary reason I’m sad is because when a school loses its paper, it’s lost a major opportunity for students to express their opinions, student voice, and that’s for the whole student body.
“And now, where do you go to hear what students think? It’s gone,” Hamm said.
“I’m also very sad because there were anywhere from 14 in the lowest year to 36 in the highest year, students who were learning valuable skills: leadership, interviewing, and writing of various types, and advertising sales, and desktop publishing, and design, and photography,” Hamm said. “And that’s all gone.”
Hamm stated that he believed that the newspaper could help students with other course work. “Although writing a news story isn’t the same as writing an essay for your English teacher, I think it does improve their writing,” Hamm said. “I think it improves their confidence across the board.
“The big thing I see is that, in a school, most of the things that we ask students to do are for the teacher; write a paper for the teacher, do a research report for the teacher, make a poster for the teacher. Other people may see it but it’s primarily like a practice life.
“But the newspaper is a real artifact. It’s a real thing that’s completely controlled by the students,” Hamm said. “If they mess it up, it’s on them. Their names are on the story. It’s passed out to 2,500 people.
“So to me, it’s one of the best teaching tools for responsibility,” Hamm said.
Hamm said that the students think, ‘If I do it poorly, my name is on it and everybody reads it, therefore,’ it’s important to the students to do a good job.
Hamm said that the student newspaper was very important and is what gave students a voice. “I think primarily it’s for the school to know that students also have a voice here,” Hamm said.
“It’s not just the dean giving us the rules. It’s not just the principal giving speeches. It’s not just teachers talking to us, but we have a place on this campus to express what we think about things,” Hamm said.
Hamm said that he felt that the newspaper brought what the students felt to the forefront and made people see that on a monthly basis. “It’s just almost a subconscious way of saying students and what they think matters here,” Hamm said.
“I have so many former students who have gone on into Communication and looked back and said, ‘Wow, that was the best thing I did in high school. It shaped my future. It made me who I am today,’ that kind of thing,” Hamm said. “And that’s over.
“It’s just really sad that it’s gone,” he said. “I hope it comes back one day.”
Hamm spoke about the organization of a journalism club and hopes for the future of a newspaper at East High. “Mrs. McKinney has revived [the journalism club] and the kids are meeting at lunchtime and planning possibly doing an after school publication because they can’t have a class to do it in,” Hamm said.
“There were close to 30 kids who came to the first meeting and there’s an interest in keeping journalism alive, at least on a club level,” Hamm said.
Celia McKinney, East High teacher, says that she will be volunteering her time to work with the journalism club.
Hamm said that East High had a newspaper for 75 years. “East High opened in 1938 with a newspaper,” he said. “We’re now celebrating, this next month, Oct. 12, our 75th anniversary.
“And as far as I know, all the 75 of those years, they had a paper.
“There’s some alumni who were hoping that there would be a 75th anniversary edition and that the students would decide to make that their big opening issue this year,” Hamm said. “And now there are no students to do it.”