About

What is the Quill?

The Quaker Quill is the student newspaper of Friends School of Baltimore. An editorial in its first edition, published on May 20th, 1938, says: “We shall see if our venture succeeds.” Eighty-six years later, the Quill and its website are produced as part of Upper School English elective courses in journalism and podcasting, as well as an extracurricular club. Meet our staff here. 

Mission Statement

Today’s Quill is a collaborative, uncensored forum for the expression of diverse views. Our mission is to foster productive dialogue within the Friends community, by publishing student reporting and commentary that adheres to strict standards of journalistic ethics.

Disclaimers 

All costs of operating, maintaining, and producing the newspaper are funded by the school. Final content decisions are the responsibility of the Editors-in-Chief, working in conjunction with the adviser. Student material published in the Quill may not reflect the opinions or policies of Friends School, and neither school employees nor the school itself are legally responsible for its content. The Quill is a member of the Journalism Education Association.

Policies & procedures

Have more questions about the Quill and how it operates?  Please see below (with thanks to the Harker Aquila, a great, California-based student news site whose editorial policies we have drawn on heavily as models for our own):

I. Student Media and Expression Guidelines, adapted from the Student Press Law Center

Student journalists should:

1. Make content and assignment decisions for the student-run publication
2. Publish professional content following standards of accuracy and fairness
3. Provide timely, inclusive, and varied coverage of our community
4. Edit content for grammar, spelling, and punctuation accuracy, according to the AP Stylebook
5. Verify all facts and the accuracy of quotations in our materials
6. In the case of editorials or letters to the editor, evaluate the need for additional comments or opinions and provide the space

We do not protect or publish media that:

1. Contains libel or defamation
2. Is obscene or graphic
3. Violates state or federal law

II. Corrections

If you find an error in the Quaker Quill, you can email us at [email protected] , or reach out to any Quill adviser or editor.

Corrections made to articles are described at the end of each article in italics.

III. Editorials

Editorials are the published opinions of the Editorial Board of the Quaker Quill. Editorials will not be published with bylines. The opinions expressed by the Editorial Board are not necessarily those of the Friends School administration, faculty, students, or community.

IV. Takedown Requests

Takedown requests will be considered by the strategic team in accordance with journalistic standards, and requests can be emailed to [email protected] with the subject line “Takedown request – [Your name]” and the link to the article. Your request will be considered by members of our strategic team for validation.

When ethical questions arise, staff members will refer to the National Scholastic Press Association’s Code of Ethics for High School Journalists and the McCormick Foundation’s Protocol for Free and Responsible Student News Media for guidance. Both were created to help guide students in the direction of responsible journalism.

V. Anonymity

As a staff, we remain judicious in our requests for, approval of, and verification of anonymously­-sourced material. Anonymity will only be granted when the quoted information is necessary and cannot be obtained through named sources and when a student’s or source’s civil, academic, legal, or personal safety may come into question if their name is published.

Editors-in-chief must approve anonymous interviews before the scheduled interview. Requests for anonymity may only come from the source in question, through the reporter writing the story. Neither the reporter nor the interviewee may assume that anonymity is requested or granted. Editors-in-chief will grant anonymity requests on a case-by-case basis.

Again, anonymity will only be granted when a student’s civil, academic, legal or personal safety is at risk.

VI. Story Pitching Process

Staff members regularly pitch story ideas to their section editors, and section editors and the strategic team assign stories.

Community members can send in story ideas to [email protected] at any time, and staff will take suggestions into account when assigning stories.

VII. Pronouns

Reporters are required to ask all sources for their pronouns at the start of each interview, along with asking for permission to record, and name and position when relevant, to avoid assuming a source’s pronouns. Sources are not required to share their pronouns if they are not comfortable doing so.

VIII. Racial and Ethnic Identifiers

Reporters will ask sources for their racial and/or ethnic identities when mentioning racial and/or ethnic identities that would be relevant to the article topic, such as coverage of Black History Month. Sources are not required to share their racial or ethnic identities if they are not comfortable doing so.

To avoid the “marking” of certain races or ethnicities while omitting other ones, reporters will ask all sources in an article for their racial and/or ethnic identity if racial and/or ethnic identities are being included in the article.

We refer to the most recent edition of the Associated Press Stylebook for current thinking on language and ethics surrounding race-related coverage.

IX. Obituary Policy

In the case of the death of a current student or faculty or staff member, the Quill will work to publish an accurate obituary without explicit details. In the case of the death of an alum, the Office of Communication will handle the decision of whether and how to publish an obituary.

X. Prior Review

The Quaker Quill does not allow sources or other non-journalism community members to preview articles or other content for approval before publication. However, reporters may occasionally check paragraphs and quotes with sources for accuracy.

XI. Role of the Advisers

An adviser’s job is to guide students in the practice of accurate, fair and ethical journalism, and to ensure that they have access to and understanding of the legal background of American journalism, including key legal decisions involving journalism and First Amendment issues. This core training also includes an understanding of journalism ethics. Choices about using anonymous sources are included as part of legal and ethical training. The adviser will not create content for any student publication directly.

XII. Use of Cookies

Our site is hosted by Student Newspapers Online, an organization that provides news sites for schools across the country and owned by TBP Productions, LLP. The site collects “usage information” about your activities on the site including usage data, IP address and web browser information not linked to your Personal Information. It uses standard technology such as “cookies” for information on how you use the site, including how often you use it, the pages you view, and where you go after you leave. This information is also unattached to your Personal Information.

XIII. Copyright

All content on the Quaker Quill site is strictly protected by copyright laws. We allow use of our photos with permission and attribution. Contact [email protected] for questions about content usage.

If you believe that the Quaker Quill or any user has infringed your copyright in any material way, please contact us at [email protected].