The Express is accepting letters to the editor from students, teachers, parents, and members of the general public on topics impacting our local community. 

Letters can take two forms.

They can be comments written in response to an article on The Express, and submitted as a comment underneath an article. Comments are subject to review by student editors before publication online. By commenting on a story you are also consenting to publication in print.

Separate letters about any news that will impact our community such as news to opinion, or politics are also welcome. However, The Express reserves the right to refuse material on the basis of length, relevance or clarity. Unprotected speech such as libel, obscenity, material disruption of the educational process at San Juan Hills High School, violation of copyright laws is also disallowed. Unsubstantiated claims or personal attacks against other students or groups will, likewise not be published.

While it may seem difficult to send in a letter, in reality it is rather easy. In this article, I’ll go step-by-step on how to get your letter published by The Express as well as giving helpful examples.

          1. Find an idea to write about

There are many different topics that we will accept; however, the topics should have some sort of impact on our community and should be important to you.

Hypothetical Example: 

In a school board meeting, the board unanimously chose to end in-person learning and move all students who were partially attending school in-person online. You, as a hybrid student, believe that this would severely hurt your learning experience. And so you send a letter to The Express voicing your perspective on the matter.

If you’d prefer, you can respond to an article or comment under an online article from The Express either disagreeing, forming a well-reasoned and accurate rebuttal to the opinion expressed or agreeing and expanding upon the opinion or news item. Comments are subject to editorial review before being published. Remember: anything published in comments will be considered for print and PDF editions as well.

          2. Contacting The Express Editorial Board

There are two main ways to easily contact us. The first and most common way would be to email us at [email protected] or at [email protected]. 

Hypothetical Example: 

Dear Express Editorial Board,

Hello, my name is John Doe and recently school administrators announced a ban to any and all future “senior pranks”. Personally this is ridiculous and does nothing, but hurt school spirit and remove a vital portion of our high school experience. I’ve written a response to their decision and was hoping you’d be willing to publish it.

Sincerely,

John Doe

Alternately, you can directly submit your letter to one of our staff members and it will be reviewed for publication.

          3. Writing the letter

To write the letter, just remember to address what you’re arguing and argue it well. Remember to include counter arguments, cite sources, break down your article into short paragraphs, and have a word length of  200-300 words. Letters may be edited for length and clarity.

Hypothetical Example:

In a recent article published by The Express a staff writer calls into question the legitimacy and purpose of astrological signs all the while idiotically dismissing proof of its existence. As a firm believer in astrology, I needed to disprove the inaccuracies of the article.

If astrology signs were truly false like the writer claims then why are people who have the astrology sign of Taurus always tall or why do all Gemini’s have great looking eyes? Perhaps the most inaccurate statement made in the article was that researching your astrological sign is pointless. Not only is researching astrology incredibly fun, it also can teach us about how and why we act the way we do. In addition . . .

That’s it! In three simple steps, you can become a contributing writer for The Express all while getting to voice your opinion to our school and local community. If you have a letter to submit make sure to email [email protected] or [email protected]. Thank you!