Editorial policies

Ownership and sponsorship

DartNewsOnline and the Dart newspaper are created by the student newspaper staff and are maintained and published by general operating funds of St. Teresa’s Academy, a Catholic institution sponsored by the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet. Dart News Online and the Dart newspaper will not publish opinions that contradict the teachings and beliefs of the Catholic Church, whether on a diocesan or worldwide level.

 

Editorial policy

The staff of DartNewsOnline and the Dart are subject to prior review by the St. Teresa’s Academy administrative team in circumstances that concern student safety and illegal behaviors by students. Otherwise, the policies above will guide DartNewsOnline and the Dart. DartNewsOnline intends to be a public forum for voices regardless of diverse ages, sexes, races, cultures, religions, or beliefs. With this said, all public forums on DartNewsOnline are subject to moderation by the web staff and insensitive or derogatory comments may be censored. Personal blogs and signed columns reflect the opinions of the individual, not necessarily the web staff, newspaper staff or the school community.

 

Letters & reader interaction policy

DartNewsOnline encourages community involvement in web forums, as well as posting comments on web content on the website. The Dart encourages letters to the editor about topics covered by the paper or other issues. Letters can be sent in the following ways: in person to Ms. Riley Cowing Goppert 106; by mail to St. Teresa’s Academy, Attn: Riley Cowing, 5600 Main Street, Kansas City, Mo 64113; by e-mail to [email protected] or to [email protected]. Letters from readers will be published on the website. If intended only for the Dart newspaper, letters should be limited to 250 words. DartNewsOnline staff and the Dart staff reserve the right to edit or shorten letters for publication.

 

Comment policy

The Dart encourages readers to comment on all posts. However, the Dart reserves the right to monitor and edit all comments on DartNewsOnline. DartNewsOnline will not publish any comment that does not agree with its editorial policy.

Under what criteria will the Dart edit comments?

A comment may not be published if it:

→ contradict the teachings or beliefs of the Catholic church

→ concern student safety or illegal behaviors by students

→ concern student discipline

→ contain obscenity

→ contain material that may disrupt the school environment

→ personally attack a student, teacher or any member of the community

 

Who can comment?

Anyone can comment under his or her real name. Please refrain from using false identities or using someone else’s name as the Dart will not publish anonymous comments.

If you believe a published comment does not meet the criteria above, contact us at [email protected], linking to the post with the comment.

 

Photo use policy

Photo illustrations are conceptual photos that combine the limitless possibility of the drawing with the realism of the photograph. All photos on website are free for public use. All photos are resized for web production and are not meant to be used for printing. If a reader is interested in obtaining high-quality copies of photos on the site, please email DartNewsOnline at [email protected].

 

Corrections policy

DartNewsOnline will publish corrections to content as soon as possible after the error is discovered. The Dart will print corrections as soon as possible after the error is discovered.

 

The Adviser

While not actually a member of the newspaper staff, nor its leader, the newspaper instructor and adviser is a member of the publication team. The adviser is both outside and involved in all aspects of newspaper production with all members of the staff. As a teacher, his duty is to teach sound, professional journalistic principles and practices and to help create an environment where all students can discover and fulfill their potential. As an adviser, his role is to guide and suggest directions for students, to praise and critique their work, but not to do their work for them. Specifically, the adviser/instructor as the following duties:

• To uphold the mission of the school. This mission may run contrary to free student expression in ways discussed in “I. Mission Statement.” Nevertheless, as an employee of St. Teresa’s Academy he must promote the often conflicting goals of Catholic morality and free student expression. In this way, the adviser is often the bridge between the newspaper staff and the administration, guarding against the publication of news or opinions that run contrary to the mission of the school or the Catholic Church.
• The editor, not the adviser, assigns stories and determines the content of the newspaper, except in situations described above. The editor does this in consultation with the adviser and the newspaper staff, but in the end it is almost always her call. The following exceptions apply: libel, invasion of privacy and copyright infringement. The adviser cannot knowingly allow the paper to break the law, just as he cannot allow the staff to work contrary to the mission of the school. He also reserves the right to question the staff and editor-in-chief over matters of newsworthiness, ethics, good taste, and professional judgement. However, in most cases, as stated above, the authority rests with the editor-in-chief.
• Reads and reviews all copy but is not the paper’s copy editor. For this reason, the adviser is at the end of the copy flow process after the story has reached a publishable state and after many students have worked to improve the final product. If the adviser finds errors or has suggestions, he will try to consult with the writer, either through written notes on the final draft or during a discussion. The kind of collaborative and face-to-face process is a better learning experience and therefore helps with the long-term improvement of the newspaper. Putting the adviser at the end of the process does not block students from consulting on work before submitting it for publication; rather, students should meet with him at any time during the brainstorming, interviewing, revision or drafting process.
• The same principle and process used by the adviser to review copy is also used for reviewing photography, art, cartoons, designs and story ideas.

The instructor has administrative duties to the school:

• Determining academic grades for the members of the newspaper class;
• Administering the school financial account granted to the newspaper class;
• Ensuring the safety of students when working on the newspaper, whether during class time or extracurricular time.