Publishing Student Images
At the beginning of the school year, parents are asked to sign a consent and release of liability agreement that allows the district to post student images for non-profit purposes. Provided there is parental consent, images may be posted on the school website and social media sites. When it comes to special populations, staff are frequently concerned about violating a student’s right to privacy. Ethical issues arise when images are posted that identify individual students as having special educational needs. There are times when we wish to celebrate the successes of our students, maybe by posting a picture of Special Olympics medal winners. It is common knowledge that participants in Special Olympics have a disability, …show more content…
At the beginning of each school year, parents and guardians are informed of the rights under FERPA. These notifications are sent out in both English and Spanish and accompany other important agreements such as the student code of conduct, the acceptable use policy, consent and release of liability and consent to release directory information to colleges and military recruiters. At this point, parents may stipulate that they do not wish the school to share any directory information without their prior consent (Edgewood ISD Board Policy FL (LOCAL)). If a parent or guardian indicates that this is the case, then student names may not be published on the website, the district consent and release of liability agreement applies the similar terms to student images. This means that staff must check that parents have given consent before they publish any names or photos. Whilst teachers find this frustrating, especially if good images of student activities may not be published because one student does not have parental consent, respecting student privacy is of paramount concern. Not only is it a parent’s right to expect the privacy of their child to be protected, we sometimes have students who are removed from families because of abuse or who are in witness protection programs, publishing their names or images could put them in
At the beginning of the school year, parents are asked to sign a consent and release of liability agreement that allows the district to post student images for non-profit purposes. Provided there is parental consent, images may be posted on the school website and social media sites. When it comes to special populations, staff are frequently concerned about violating a student’s right to privacy. Ethical issues arise when images are posted that identify individual students as having special educational needs. There are times when we wish to celebrate the successes of our students, maybe by posting a picture of Special Olympics medal winners. It is common knowledge that participants in Special Olympics have a disability, …show more content…
At the beginning of each school year, parents and guardians are informed of the rights under FERPA. These notifications are sent out in both English and Spanish and accompany other important agreements such as the student code of conduct, the acceptable use policy, consent and release of liability and consent to release directory information to colleges and military recruiters. At this point, parents may stipulate that they do not wish the school to share any directory information without their prior consent (Edgewood ISD Board Policy FL (LOCAL)). If a parent or guardian indicates that this is the case, then student names may not be published on the website, the district consent and release of liability agreement applies the similar terms to student images. This means that staff must check that parents have given consent before they publish any names or photos. Whilst teachers find this frustrating, especially if good images of student activities may not be published because one student does not have parental consent, respecting student privacy is of paramount concern. Not only is it a parent’s right to expect the privacy of their child to be protected, we sometimes have students who are removed from families because of abuse or who are in witness protection programs, publishing their names or images could put them in