About

Welcome to the Epic, Lynbrook High School’s official newspaper! the Epic covers local events, offers student opinions on controversial issues and features community members. We strive to be a voice for Lynbrook students, parents and staff members. 

All stories are published monthly in print and on our website, which has a variety of web exclusive content. You can view stories in their original print layout on Issuu and explore our daily coverage on our Instagram, @lhsepic.

If you would like to suggest a story idea or ask us any questions, contact us here.

Thank you so much for your readership! 

Sincerely,

Ashley Huang & Alyssa Wang

Editors-in-Chief 2024-25

Awards

Do we really need awards to show how, well, epic we are?
In any case…

2024: Columbia Scholastic Press Silver Crown, First Amendment Press Freedom Award
2023: ASPA 1st Place Award, JEA/NSPA Best of Show 2nd Place Award JEANC Best of the West 3rd Place
2022: Columbia Scholastic Press Silver Crown
2021: JEANC Best of the West 2nd Place
2020: Columbia Scholastic Press Silver Crown
2019: ASPA Outstanding Award
2018: ASPA 1st Place Award, JEA/NSPA Best of Show 10th Place Award
2017: ASPA 1st Place Award, Best of the West Newspaper 3rd Place Award
2011: CSPA Gold Medal, NSPA All American Award
2009: JEA/NSPA Pacemaker Winner
2008: JEA/NSPA Pacemaker Finalist

 

Editorial Policies of the Epic

(Last Updated 8/5/2024)

Mission Statement

the Epic is a student forum created by and for the students of Lynbrook High School. In order to serve our readers, the staff of the Epic seeks to report on events, issues and ideas relevant to the Lynbrook community in a professional, accurate, unbiased and thorough manner. the Epic strives to provide a full opportunity for all students, staff and community members to inquire, question and exchange ideas. Therefore, its content reflects all areas of student interest, including topics which may be controversial. the Epic maintains the highest ethical standards with regard to fairness, personal and legal rights, responsibilities and accuracy based on the Code of Ethics created by the Society of Professional Journalists. Further, the Epic maintains the highest technical standards in accordance with Associated Press style. The content of the Epic is not subject to prior review of any kind. 

Prior Review

Reporters will check quotations and facts used in their stories with their sources before publication. However, stories and pages will not be reviewed by any non-staff members prior to publication. Under no circumstance will reporters email or show their stories to anyone outside of staff, including their interviewees. The staff’s logistical systems, such as the Google Drive and Slack, will not be shared with or shown to anyone outside of staff. 

Legal Protections

the Epic’s staff members and Adviser are protected by the First Amendment to the United States Constitution and Section 48907 of the California Education Code. The Adviser is responsible for ensuring that “prohibited expression” — libel, obscenity, material disruption, unwarranted invasion of privacy and copyright infringement — is not published. Because the staff of the Epic determines the content of the publication, it will accept full legal responsibility for what is printed. Students reserve the right to consult the Student Press Law Center and the JEA Scholastic Press rights committee for help with legal issues.

“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”

First Amendment to the United States Constitution

 California Education Code, Section 48907

“Students of the public schools shall have the right to exercise freedom of speech and of the press including, but not limited to, the use of bulletin boards, the distribution of printed materials or petitions, the wearing of buttons, badges, and other insignia, and the right of expression in official publications, whether or not such publications or other means of expression are supported financially by the school or by use of school facilities, except that expression shall be prohibited which is obscene, libelous or slanderous. Also prohibited shall be material which so incites students as to create a clear and present danger of the commission of unlawful acts on school premises or the violation of lawful school regulations, or the substantial disruption of the orderly operation of the school.

           Each governing board of a school district and each county board of education shall adopt rules and regulations in the form of a written publications code, which shall include reasonable provisions for the time, place, and manner of conducting such activities within its respective jurisdiction.

           Student editors of official school publications shall be responsible for assigning and editing the news, editorial, and feature content of their publications subject to the limitations of this section. However, it shall be the responsibility of a journalism adviser or advisers of student publications within each school to supervise the production of the student staff, to maintain professional standards of English and journalism, and to maintain the provisions of this section.

           There shall be no prior restraint of materials prepared for official school publications except insofar as it violates this section. School officials shall have the burden of showing justification without undue delay prior to any limitation of student expression under this section.

           ‘Official school publications’ refers to material produced by students in the journalism, newspaper, yearbook, or writing classes and distributed to the student body either free or for a fee. Nothing in this section shall prohibit or prevent any governing board of a school district from adopting otherwise valid rules and regulations related to oral communication by students upon the premises of each school.

An employee shall not be dismissed, suspended, disciplined, reassigned, transferred, or otherwise retaliated against solely for acting to protect a pupil engaged in the conduct authorized under this section, or refusing to infringe upon conduct that is protected by this section, the First Amendment to the United States Constitution, or Section 2 of Article I of the California Constitution.”   

Editorial Board

The Editorial Board consists of the Editors-in-Chief, Managing Editor, Copy Editors, Design Editors and Adviser. This group is responsible for overseeing the staff and may convene to resolve conflict or ethical issues. All decisions of the Editorial Board are student-made and ruled by a two-thirds majority vote. The Adviser does not have a vote, but rather helps guide the discussion of the issues at hand.

Legal Behavior

Reporters, photographers and the Adviser will not participate in any illegal act in pursuit of a story. Reporters are responsible for understanding the laws pertaining to libel, invasion of privacy, violation of copyright and plagiarism. Members of staff who abuse their privileges are subject to disciplinary action as stated in the course expectations. In addition, reporters who accept off-the-record information will not print it. Per access law, reporters are free to access public meetings and quote those who speak at them. 

Press Pass Use

The press pass will allow reporters and photographers to be admitted to most campus events, such as sporting events, plays, dances and club events. Staffers should ask permission of the organizer to enter an event using their press pass beforehand to develop clear lines of respectful communication with all members of the campus community. Abuse of the press pass will lead to its confiscation and could also lead to removal from staff. 

Generative AI Acceptable Use 

Generative AI programs such as Chat-GPT, Bing AI and Adobe Firefly may not be used to write stories or produce visual media published in the Epic under any circumstances. Using any AI program/software to write stories or produce visual media is considered a form of plagiarism and therefore all story drafts and visual media creations must be the original work of the writer(s) and designer(s) of a particular story. During editing periods, Section Editors and Editorial Board members have the right to use the ‘edit history’ function in Google Docs to investigate suspicious writing. Adobe Firefly features are turned off for all staffers’ Adobe student accounts in the Admin Console. 

Tools that check a reporter’s writing are permitted (e.g. the autocorrect feature in Google Docs and the Grammarly app). These tools, which can scan original writing for errors and/or make suggestions for edits, are very different from AI programs that write entire stories. Reporters may also use Generative AI programs for research purposes (such as finding statistics), brainstorming or gaining a broad understanding of a particular topic. However it is important to note, Generative AI is prone to outputting false or misleading information and it is the responsibility of reporters and staffers to fact-check the information they receive from these programs to ensure accuracy and the credibility of the publication.

Accuracy

All articles published by the Epic, excluding letters to the editors and guest columns, are written by staff members. Before publication, Editors-in-Chiefs, Copy Editors and writers will fact-check and screen all information for issues such as obscenity and libel through interviews and research. Those accused in a story of wrongdoing will be given the opportunity to respond to allegations, and reporters from the Epic will refrain from speculation. the Epic reserves the right to go to press with any story with facts as they stand at deadline, but will always aim for completion, which may entail the publication of follow-up stories.

Corrections

the Epic will correct errors of accuracy in the following print issue and online unless there are no print issues remaining in the school year, in which case the correction solely will be published online. Corrections are usually placed on the second page of the newspaper under the letter from the editors. Corrections for errors of accuracy in online articles will be published online. It is the responsibility of all staff to listen for corrections after distribution and to report such mistakes to the Editors-in-Chiefs and the Adviser. Compiling corrections will be the responsibility of the Editorial Board. 

Retractions

the Epic will not retract any published article unless a story is factually inaccurate or if there is a legal requirement to do so.

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion

Reporters and photographers make genuine efforts to include sources and subjects for photographs and articles who represent all parts of the Lynbrook population. Diversity includes, but is not limited to: ethnicity, age, gender and social group. The staff strives to cover all school sports, clubs and groups equitably. The Managing Editor will keep a ‘blacklist’ of previous interviewees accessible to all staff members after each issue in an effort toward diversity. 

Pronoun Policy

We use the name and pronouns reported to us in interviews by the individual we are reporting on. Each interview begins with a request to state and spell the person’s name, state their grade level or profession if applicable, and to share the pronouns they would like to see published in the story. We use multiple pronouns to refer to one person if they request it, and will use a preferred one more if specified. We respect an individual’s right to choose where they disclose their identity and prioritize safety or privacy by using preferred names and pronouns. If a mistake is made in the course of reporting, corrections will be made to the online story. If someone requests to have their name or pronouns used in a story changed following its publication, we will add a note in the online copy indicating that said individual now uses a different name and different pronouns, which the article has been changed to reflect.

Conflict of Interest

Staff members will not write about their close friends, family members or clubs and teams with which they are currently affiliated. The Managing Editor will keep a ‘blacklist’ of all staffers’ close friends in order to prevent conflict of interest. A column would be an exception to this policy. 

Withholding Names

In most cases, reporters will name all sources quoted in an article. Reporters will only withhold a name in rare cases when it is required by law, a student’s safety is in danger or the Editorial Board deems it appropriate for the case at hand. The Adviser will be notified of the intent to withhold the subject’s name; the name of the subject will not be given to anyone not involved with writing the story.

Death of a Person on Campus

Any current student, staff member or building administrator who dies during the year will be covered in a respectful manner. Standard coverage will include factual information (date of birth, date of death, survivors, organizations, hobbies and interests) in a 300-400 word obituary and include one mug shot. the Epic will first obtain permission from the deceased’s family before publishing any information regarding the cause of death. No page, spread or issue will be dedicated to or in memory of the deceased.

Profanity

the Epic will not print unnecessary profanity. The Editorial Board will decide whether content is considered profane or whether it is a cultural or non-vulgar slang term. The Editorial Board reserves the right to edit quotes for unnecessary profanity or unnecessarily offensive words; quotes that have been edited will be noted accordingly when published. Sources will be allowed to review the edited quote and make changes. Staff interviewers have the right to ask a source when necessary to repeat a quote without the use of profane language.

Guest Columns

Guest columns are welcome. Columns of 500 words or fewer should be submitted via the guest column submission form on the Epic’s website, email to [email protected] or to the Epic’s mailbox in the Lynbrook main office. After submission, they become sole property of the Epic and can be edited for length, clarity or accuracy. Columns cannot be returned and will be published at the Epic’s discretion. All columns must be signed; anonymous columns will not be published. Columns longer than 500 words will be condensed for publishing as the Editorial Board sees fit.

Letters to the Editor

Letters to the Editor are welcome. Letters of 200 words or fewer should be submitted via email to [email protected] or to the Epic’s mailbox in the Lynbrook main office. After submission, they become sole property of the Epic and can be edited for length, clarity or accuracy. Letters must be in response to a previously published article. Letters cannot be returned and will be published at the Epic’s discretion. All letters must be signed; anonymous letters will not be published. A staff response will only occur when a fact needs to be clarified. Letters longer than 200 words will be condensed for publishing as the Editorial Board sees fit.

Advertising

the Epic will accept advertisements submitted with a signed contract and full payment provided as long as they do not advocate illegal activity for minors and are not deemed by the Editorial Board to be racist, sexist or otherwise inappropriate for the Epic’s audience. A signed contract must entail a signature from both the business and a current Epic staffer. Advertisements may also be rejected due to space limitations. Advertisements of a political nature will not be accepted. the Epic reserves the right to refuse service to any business.

Social Media

the Epic’s social media accounts will only follow its current or alum staff, school organizations and professional publications. the Epic’s social media accounts will not comment on any social media posts that are not posted by the Epic. the Epic gives the opportunity to comment on social media in order to foster a healthy debating environment and reserves the right to reject comments that stray away from that objective. In case of comments that stray away from that objective, the Epic staff will not reply or comment on that social media post. Staff that comment on those posts will have their comments removed. the Epic staff reserves the right to delete, move or edit comments that:Use any language that is derogatory, abusive, libelous or discriminatory on the basis of race, religion, nationality, gender, sexual preference, age, disability, etc.

• Post repeated messages, meaningless messages or “spam.”
• Threaten others, including the author of the article, others who post comments on the site, etc.
• Publish or distribute any content that advertises or solicits goods or services.
• Are otherwise unacceptable as determined by the Editorial Board.