It's time to change my perception of the principal's office

While addressing the challenges Latino journalists face when covering their fellow Latinos Rick Rodriguez said, “Because diversity hasn’t been expressed, they’re looking at you as an ally. It’s a very delicate balance.”

We too, as advisers, must strike a delicate balance between our role as a paid teacher who wants to support the school and our role as an adviser of a student-run publication who wants to encourage free speech.

In high school, the only reason I ever found myself called down to the principal's office was to discuss a controversial story I'd written for the newspaper. Not much has changed. I still find myself called down to the principal's office primarily to discuss stories in the newspaper.

I’m grateful for the practical tips offered today by Associate Dean Kristin Gilger of the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication. I look forward to putting Gilger's advice into practice and building closer relationships with my administrators this coming fall. It's time to change my perception of the principal's office!

A special thanks to those of you who stepped up for the role play and offered your helpful wisdom, borne of experience, to the dialogue.

Lisa Edmisten
Woodcreek High School
Roseville, Calif.