The Thomas Paine Panther
by T.J. Walsh

Set during the AIDS crisis.

The student staff of the Thomas Paine High School newspaper has been banned from publishing their annual “Best/Worst” issue, but their headstrong editor is determined to go ahead with it.

Mr. Smith, the paper's sponsor, discovers what the students are up to just as they learn a shocking secret about him -- and this triggers a high-stakes confrontation on ethics, journalism, and the rules of being a teacher and friend.