The journalism teacher at Southern High School -- where the student newspaper was temporarily shut down by its staff this spring because of a dispute with the principal over its content -- is being let go from her job at the end of the month.

Tara N. Williams, who was hired two years ago to start a journalism program at Southern, received a letter from the school system last week saying her contract was not being renewed. No reason was given. School officials do not have to provide one for "provisional" teachers, who have no permanent teaching credentials.

But Williams, 23, believes she is being let go because of the controversy that has surrounded the school's newspaper, The Bulldog, for the past several months. Williams serves as the faculty adviser for that publication and has been critical of Southern Principal Thomas Stephens' handling of the situation.

Williams met with Stephens on Monday but said she was not given a reason for being let go. She said nothing in the classroom observations done by school officials would justify that action.

"I'm going to fight for my job, because I really don't think I did anything wrong," said Williams, who graduated from Morgan State University in 2000 with a bachelor's degree in English. "I thought I was just being a good teacher."

School system spokeswoman Edie House said she could not comment on Williams' case because it is a personnel matter. But she also pointed out that the district has the right to opt not to renew the contracts of provisional teachers without explanation. About 200 such teachers are let go every year, she said.

A spokeswoman for the Baltimore Teachers Union, Carla M. Tyler, said that a field representative is investigating the situation.

State Sen. George W. Della, a Baltimore Democrat who has been supportive of Williams and her students, sent a letter to school system officials yesterday urging them to preserve her job.

Stephens objected to the February issue of The Bulldog, which contained criticism of the school system's plan to turn Southern into a technology magnet school next fall.

After the issue came out, Stephens -- who has previously declined to speak with The Sun about the matter and did not return a call yesterday seeking comment -- called Williams to the office and later said that future issues couldn't be published without his approval.

The March issue, whose front page showed a student holding a sign saying "I've Been Censored" and which contained articles describing chaotic, unsafe and unsanitary conditions at the school, was not sanctioned by the administration and was circulated unofficially.

Williams, who posted the issue on her door and refused to take it down when Stephens asked her to, said she and her students preferred not to publish the newspaper at all if they couldn't publish what they wanted.

Several students accused Stephens of trying to cover up problems at the school and violating their rights of freedom of speech and press. No issues were published in April and May.

Anne Carusi, the school system's head of high schools, said in a recent interview that Stephens never forced the students to shut down the paper and that he had done nothing wrong in asking for modifications to its content. He objected not because the school was negatively portrayed, she said, but because the content "wasn't balanced" and because it contained inaccuracies.

"There was some indication that he thought there were some things that were not correctly reported," she said.

Carusi did not say what might have been incorrectly reported.

After meeting last month with school officials, including Carusi and House, Williams and her class agreed to put together a final issue of The Bulldog, which is expected to be completed this week.

Della, who had offered to let the students publish an "underground" version of the paper out of his office, said he believed that the non-renewal of Williams' contract is motivated by the dispute over The Bulldog.

"I'm not aware of anything else that would have caused this dismissal," said Della. "As far as I know, her performance has been stellar."

He wrote to school board Chairwoman Patricia L. Welch, schools Chief Executive Officer Carmen V. Russo and other school board members expressing what he described as "rage" over the school system's action.

"It burns the living daylights out of me," he said. "I felt that she was doing good for these kids."

At the meeting Monday with Stephens and Assistant Principal Denise Gordon, Williams said she asked for a reason for her contract not being renewed. She was given none, she said, and instead was referred to Carusi.

"I said to [Stephens] that I feel like it's a slap in the face," Williams said. "I came to the school, I started this journalism program from nothing and made it into what it is now. I feel as if my students have been done a disservice."

Williams said she ran into Carusi at Southern yesterday, and asked why she was not being brought back. Carusi assured her it had nothing to do with The Bulldog, she said.

But Williams thinks there are no other reasons.

"I don't understand why I'm losing my job for doing my job," Williams said.