-tictech message:
Hi Mark/All-
I will try and make some clarifications for you regarding posting student
photos, names and work as well as break down the varying issues that come
into play (i.e. permissions and best practices).
PERMISSION
Please do not assume student photos can appear on school Web sites without
seeking parent permission. The permission is via the FERPA (Family
Educational Rights and Privacy Act) schools send home to parents at the
beginning of each year (some schools may choose to send a more specific form
home, but the FERPA will suffice in this instance). This form allows
parents to opt out if they would like their child's private information
protected. The form specifically identifies that information as, "name,
address, telephone number, e mail address, photograph, date of birth, dates
of enrollment, grade level, enrollment status, degree or award received,
major filed of study, participation in officially recognized activities and
sports teams, height and weight of athletes, most recent school or program
attended, and other information that would not generally be considered
harmful or an invasion of privacy if disclosed."
If the FERPA form is returned by a parent and they have opted out,
requesting that the student's information be made confidential, that data is
entered into our Student Information System and the student carries a
"confidential code." From that database a Confidentiality Report is
generated and is (or should be) kept on file in the main office of each
school for reference. Many students must have their identity protected for
a variety of security reasons. These lists are often referred to if the
media visits a school, or in this case, if photos or student work is being
considered for posting. Some schools, as Matt Page from Montlake described,
may wish to create their own form that asks parents to opt in. However, as
it stands the FERPA covers this area.
Good practice would also be to ask specific permission in advance for an
event that might garner "photo opportunities." For example, if a child were
to appear in school play, a permission slip could go home to parents
requesting permission for photos to be used on the Web. Or even where an
existing permission slip would be sent, for example a field trip that might
have lots of photo opps, language could be added that would indicate whether
or not the school could have permission to use the student's photo. In
these instances, staff must be extremely careful to not isolate students,
but rather to take plenty of photos and simply not use the ones with a
protected student in them.
BEST PRACTICES
With the above in place, the general best practices that I advocate as
Seattle Public Schools Web editor are as follows:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Obtain parent/guardian permission, as well as student permission, to
publish personal information or projects (some parents are reluctant to have
their child's personal picture and written or drawn projects posted on the
Internet).
As a rule, do not use specific students' names to accompany photos on your
Web page. Instead, use general descriptors, like these examples:
~ "Franklin High sophomores debate"
~ "Ms. Smith's 10th grade class studies"
~ "Martin Luther King students celebrate"
~ "The Nathan Hale Raiders were victorious"
Do not use a student's last name to accompany their posted project or
picture in any case.
A contact person for projects should be the instructor, not the student.
Do not post identifying material on the Internet such as personal phone
numbers, home addresses, and individual pictures with the student's first
and last names.
Posting class pictures should be acceptable as long as the picture doesn't
explain which individuals are standing where in the picture.
Do not post class rosters with teacher name, grade and student first and
last names.
If it is necessary to post a list of names, such as award winners, team
rosters or scholarship recipients, do not post the names in conjunction with
a photo (i.e. award winners are [Left to Right] Anna Smith, Joe Ross, Chris
Garcia) or obtain specific permission to do so.
Avoid publishing personal web pages for students (links and content may be
inappropriate for educational purposes.) If students want to create a web
page, integrating the classroom curriculum with the Internet would be
preferred.
With the above guidelines in place, posting school life photos, sports
rosters, student award-winners, and examples of outstanding student work
will maintain privacy and safety and still provide for robust, useful and
compelling content."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The above guidelines are currently being worked on to be included in a
manual of Seattle Public Schools Web Publishing Guidelines to expound on the
current guidelines online. I am working to make them available by the end
of the year, if not sooner. Once that becomes available they will be posted
on the Seattle Public Schools Intranet.
Please let me know if you have any further questions or I can be of
assistance.
Sincerely,
Saffa Bardaro, Web Editor
Office of Public Affairs & District Communications
Seattle Public Schools
scbardaro@seattleschools.org
-----Original Message-----
From: Mark Ahlness [mailto:mahlness@attbi.com]
Sent: Monday, September 09, 2002 7:32 PM
To: tictech
Subject: tictech: student pics/work on school web sites
-tictech message:
Hi All,
I'd really appreciate if someone could answer a couple of questions I had
after reading
http://inside.seattleschools.org/area/main/webinternet/WPPfaq.xml:
"How much information about students can be posted on the web?
With the District Web Publishing Guidelines, it is assumed that the District
and schools have permission to publish student work, photographs, and
limited personal information unless a parent has turned in the form denying
permission. In most cases, this should be limited to the first name only,
especially when associated with a photograph. At the secondary level, there
may be instances in which full names could be used (i.e., athletic rosters,
school news, etc.)."
So, I can assume student photos can appear on school web sites without
asking parent permission, right?
Can I also assume that it is ok to associate a first name with a picture of
a student?
I understand that parents have the right to deny the above. I'd also like to
know how long teachers have to wait for parents to return a form denying
permission before they can go ahead and publish student work and/or photos.
Just wondering if all this is up to date, as the Word document linked from
http://inside.seattleschools.org/area/main/forms/webdocuments.xml
explaining the above is dated August, 2001, and I know there was quite a
stir last fall over the confusing student internet access form. Thanks -
Mark
Mark Ahlness
Arbor Heights
mahlness@attbi.com
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