9700 - RELATIONS WITH SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS

School City of Hammond

Bylaws & Policies

9700 - RELATIONS WITH SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS

Any request from civic institutions, charitable organizations, or special interest groups which involve such activities as patriotic functions, contests, exhibits, sales of products to and by students, sending promotional materials home with students, graduation prizes, fundraising, and free teaching materials must be carefully reviewed to ensure that such activities promote student interests without advancing the special interests of any particular group.

It is the policy of the School Board that students, staff members, and School City facilities not be used for advertising or promoting the interests of any nonschool agency or organization, public or private, without the approval of the Board or its delegated representative; and any such approval, granted for whatever cause or group, shall not be construed as an endorsement of said cause or group by this Board.

	A.	Political/Commercial Interests

		All materials or activities proposed by outside political or commercial sources for student or staff use or participation shall be reviewed by the Superintendent on the basis of their educational contribution to part or all of the school program, benefit to students, and good taste, and no such approval shall have the primary purpose of advancing the name, product, or special interest of the proposing group.

		The Board shall not permit the use of any type of educational material, program, or equipment in its curricular or extra-curricular activities or at any time during the school day or at any school sponsored activity if such materials, programs, or equipment contain partisan political or commercial messages or are designed to persuade students or staff members to acquire a particular product or service offered by a named individual, company, organization, association, or agency. Professional staff may, however, utilize political materials or those provided by special interest-groups in adopted courses of study with the approval of the Superintendent.


B.	Contests/Exhibits

	The Board recognizes that contests, exhibits, and the like may benefit individual students or the School City as a whole, but participation in such special activities may not:

	1.	have the primary effect of advancing a special product, group, or company;

	2.	make unreasonable demands upon the time and energies of staff or students or upon the resources of the School City;

	3.	involve any direct cost to the School City;

	4.	interrupt the regular school program unless the student body as a whole derives benefit from such activities;

	5.	cause the participants to leave the School City, unless:

		a.	the Board Policy 2340 - Field and Other School City-Sponsored Trips has been complied with in all aspects;

		b.	the Board has granted special permission;

		c.	the parents of a minor student have granted their permission.

C.	Distribution/Posting of Literature

	No outside organizations or staff member or student representing an outside organization may distribute or post literature on that organization's behalf on School City property either during or after school hours without the permission and prior review of the Superintendent.


	The Superintendent shall establish administrative guidelines which ensure that:

	1.	criteria established in Policy 5722 - Student Publications and Productions are used to make a decision regarding materials that students seek to post or distribute;

	2.	distribution or posting of materials employees wish to distribute on behalf of an employee organization comply with the terms of negotiated collective bargaining agreements;

	3.	the school mail system is not used by students or staff for distribution of nonschool-related materials;

	4.	no materials from any profit-making organization are distributed for students to take home to their parents unless authorized by the Superintendent;

	5.	the time, place, and manner of distribution of all nonschool-related materials is clearly established and communicated.

D.	Prizes/Scholarships

	The Board is appreciative of the generosity of organizations which offer scholarships or prizes to deserving students in this School City. But, in accepting the offer of such scholarships or prizes, the Board directs that no information, either academic or personal, shall be released from the student's record for the purpose of selecting a scholarship or prize winner without the permission of the student who is eighteen (18), or the parents of a student who is younger in accordance with the Board's policy on student records.


E.	Sale of School Supplies

	In determining the appropriateness of the sale of school supplies by organizations other than the School City, the Board requires that:

	1.	the organization have a purpose which will benefit the School City and its students;

	2.	the organization's planned activities are clearly in the best interest of the School City and its students.

	All funds generated by the sale of such school supplies shall be kept separate from other activity funds or other transactions of the Board.

F.	Surveys and Questionnaires

	Neither School City-related nor noncorporation-related organizations shall be allowed to administer a survey or questionnaire to students or staff unless the instrument and the proposed plan is submitted, in advance, to the Superintendent. If approved in accordance with the Superintendent's criteria, a copy of the results and the proposed manner of their communication are to be provided to the Superintendent for review and approval before they are released.

I.C. 4-32.2-4
I.C. 4-32.2-5
I.C. 4-32.2-5-21

Revised 3/20/17