Marketing and Media Relations Department
123 N. Eisenhower Drive
Junction City, Kansas 66441
Tel: 785-717-4067
ADVERTISING AND COMMERCIAL ACTIVITIES
School Board property shall not be used for advertising or otherwise promoting the interests of any commercial, political, or other nonschool agency or individual organization; nor shall Board employees or students be employed in such a manner. The following are exceptions:
A. School officials, with the Superintendent’s approval, may cooperate with any governmental agency in promoting activities in the general public’s interest or may cooperate in furthering the work of any nonprofit community-wide social service agency; provided, that such cooperation does not restrict or interfere with the educational program of the school and is nonpartisan and noncontroversial.
B. A school may use film or other educational materials which contain advertising. The film or material shall be carefully evaluated by the school principal for classroom use to determine whether the film or material has educational value.
C. The Superintendent may announce or authorize to be announced any lecture or community activity of particular educational merit.
D. Demonstrations of educational materials and equipment shall be permitted with the principal’s approval.
E. School publications may contain appropriate advertising to defray the costs of publications.
F. School groups may appear for school activities, civic programs, and community benefit programs.
G. To promote the recruitment and retention of teachers and other employees, information about special offers and discounts available to District staff for goods and services may be provided on the District’s web site, with procedures established by the Superintendent.
H. Schools and the District may utilize sports facilities for commercial advertising to support school programs. The principal or the District’s Athletic Director, as appropriate, shall maintain approval rights on the content and form of such advertising. Money collected from these commercial advertisements shall be deposited into the proper internal account.
DISTRIBUTION OF MATERIALS AND LITERATURE TO STUDENTS
The following policy applies to publications other than student and non-academic publications: non-school related literature from organizations or individuals must be approved by the Superintendent and such publications shall be made accessible only as provided in the following procedures.
When an organization or individual wishes to make publications accessible through the public schools, such publications must be submitted to the Superintendent for approval and shall be made accessible only as provided herein. Grounds for denial of such approval to distribute non-school related publications shall include, but not be limited to, violation of School Board policy (i.e., advertising), obscenity and gross profanity and vulgarity which are incompatible with the normal activity associated with a public education institution as well as other forms of unprotected expression.
A. Following the Superintendent’s or designee’s approval, the Director of School Operations will issue a letter authorizing the organization or individual to approach school principals in order to request permission to distribute non-school related publications in the school.
B. The school principal shall make the decision of whether the publication should be distributed in the school. Grounds for the principal to deny such permission to distribute non-school related publications shall include, but not be limited to, handling and dissemination concerns, staff availability, and conflicts with established individual school events calendars.
C. Following the principal’s approval, copies of the publication should be delivered to the school by the organization or individual and left with the principal for dissemination.
D. Copies should then be placed in an accessible area and a simple announcement of their availability made to the students.
ANNOUNCEMENT OF NON-SCHOOL EVENTS
The Superintendent may approve the advertisement or announcement of non-school events for non-profit organizations or organizations working in partnership with the School District through the Education Foundation when such events are deemed to be consistent with the fundamental values of the School District (i.e., the District’s vision, mission, strategic directions and core values). Once approved, schools shall distribute the advertisement or make the announcement as provided in this rule. For the purpose of this policy, advertisement is defined as written communication and announcement is defined as oral communication.
Such advertisement or announcement of events shall be subject to the following restrictions:
A. The advertisement or announcement shall be for the sole purpose of making students aware of before or after-school activities, educational opportunities or services, or non-profit community events.
B. The content of the advertisement or announcement shall be limited to providing information about the activity or series of related activities and the time, date and place of the event, as well as a contact person and telephone number.
C. The advertisement or announcement shall include the name of the sponsoring organization.
D. The written advertisement shall contain the following disclaimer in at least twelve (12) point type in bold letters (an announcement shall contain the same statement):
The school is neither endorsing nor sponsoring this event nor approving or endorsing the views of the organization sponsoring the activity.
The Superintendent (or designee) may waive this requirement when appropriate with the approval of the School Board Attorney.
E. Distribution of such advertisement by students or the announcement by students to other students shall be subject to reasonable time, place and method restrictions as determined by the principal or designee. Such distribution or announcement shall not interfere with the normal operation of the school.
F. At the discretion of the principal or designee, distribution of advertisements may be made through placement or posting of the advertisement at a specified point or points as determined by the principal or designee. If there is an announcement about the availability of such advertisement, the announcement shall contain the disclaimer notice required in item “D” above. Such distribution or posting points shall prominently display the disclaimer notice required in item “D” above.
G. At the discretion of the principal or designee, distribution of advertisements may be made by school employees or volunteers, provided the employee or volunteer gives the disclaimer notice required in item “D” above prior to the distribution.