Student and teacher representatives of The Oracle, the Mountain View High School student newspaper, sued MVHS Principal Dr. Kip Glazer and the Mountain View–Los Altos School District yesterday. They allege Glazer pressured The Oracle to “water down” details about sexual harassment, then “unlawfully retaliated” after publication by removing the Introduction to Journalism course and removing former Oracle adviser Carla Gomez from her position as adviser, all “in her effort to protect her own reputation and shield the school’s harassers.”

The lawsuit was filed by the parent of Oracle co-editor-in-chief senior Hanna Olson, former Oracle staff member Hayes Duenow ‘23 and Gomez. The Talon reported last October that Hanna and Gomez were considering legal action against the District.

According to the complaint, the MVHS administration “bulli[ed] and intimidat[ed]” reporters to “censor” an in-depth article covering sexual harassment on campus. The writers report that they removed significant details because of this pressure, including anecdotes of sexual harassment, students’ responses to the culture of harassment on campus and the explicit identification of a “serial sexual harasser” on campus.

The lawsuit alleges multiple violations of California’s Education Code § 48907, which protects public school students’ freedom of speech and the press, bans censorship of “official student publications” and protects school employees from retaliation for protecting students’ freedom of speech. It also cites alleged violations of whistleblower protections in California’s Labor Code, claiming that Glazer retaliated against Gomez for “refusing to participate” in the District’s alleged attempts to censor the article. The complaint requests that the District reinstitute MVHS’s Introduction to Journalism class, reinstate Gomez as adviser of The Oracle, prevent future censorship of the sexual harassment article and allow The Oracle’s staff to consider publishing an uncensored version of the article.

This is an ongoing story.