Video: Students sue after sex lives published in school newspaper

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TACOMA, Wash. -- Four current and former high school students have sued the Puyallup School District, claiming they were harassed after their names were used in a story in their school's student newspaper about their sex lives.

It was supposed to be the issue of the “Jagwire” that brought to light the secret world of sexual activity at Emerald Ridge High School. A headline reads “1 in 3 students at ER have had oral sex.”

Instead, everyone is talking more about who was quoted and not the article itself.

"Especially giving the names out too of the students it's not cool at all,” said student Ashley Bishop.

The lawsuit, which could reach the millions of dollars, has been filed on behalf of one current and three former students who were quoted in last February’s school paper dealing with sexual experiences.

The students claim they were asked to be a part of a survey and were told their names would not be used.

"One of the young women had actually contacted the paper and was assured the names were not going to be used,” said John Connelly, an attorney for one of the named students.

But the school’s attorney and at least one of the student writers, who is now in college, have a different story.

"We asked for permission from those students a couple of students.  The thing that I regret is not sitting them down saying, ‘Hey have you thought about this? The student body is going to be privy to very private information and we need to know if you're ok with that being published,’” said former Jagwire writer Ashley Vincent.

Soon after the article ran, the journalism advisor was reprimanded for failing to provide adequate oversight.

The principal of Emerald Ridge is now in charge of proofreading all articles before they are published.

“Teachers aren't gonna want to teach here when there's censorship, I'm talking about journalism teachers, so there's gonna be a lot of long term affects around this,” said parent Cheryl Vincent.

The suit was filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Tacoma.