9700 - RELATIONS WITH SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS

Avon Community School Corporation

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, fund raising, 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 Corporation 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.

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 principal on the basis of their educational contribution to part or all of the school program, benefit to students, 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 permit the use of educational materials, programs, and equipment which contains commercial messages providing the content of such messages and the manner of presentation has been approved by the Superintendent and is in compliance with the Corporation's administrative guidelines.

	B.	Contests/Exhibits
		The Board recognizes that contests, exhibits, and the like may benefit individual students or the Corporation 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 Corporation;
		3.	involve any direct cost to the Corporation;
		4.	interrupt the regular school program unless the student body as a whole derives benefit from such activities;

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 Corporation property either during or after school hours without the permission and prior review of the principal.

The Superintendent shall establish administrative guidelines which ensure that criteria established in Policy 5722 - Student Publications and Productions are used to make a decision regarding materials that students seek to post or distribute.

	D.	Solicitation of Funds
		Any outside organization or staff member representing an outside organization desiring to solicit funds on school property must receive permission to do so from the Superintendent.

	Permission to solicit funds will be granted only to those organizations or individuals who meet the permission criteria established in the Corporation's administrative guidelines. Solicitation must take place at such times and places and in such a manner as specified in the administrative guidelines. In accordance with Board Policy 5830, no Corporation student may participate in the solicitation without the Superintendent's approval.

	The Board disclaims all responsibility for the protection of, or accounting for, such funds.

	Solicited funds are not to be deposited in any regular or special accounts of the Corporation.

	This policy does not apply to the raising of funds for Corporation-sponsored or school-sponsored activities.

Any booster club or school-support group that may use students in a fund-raising activity must comply with I.C.-4-32-9-34, namely, that no student under the age of eighteen (18) may play, participate in, or sell tickets for any of the following types of fund-raising events - bingo games, charity game nights, raffles, door prizes, fund-raising festivals, activities related to pull tabs, punchboards, tip boards, and the like.

Prizes/Scholarships

The Board is appreciative of the generosity of organizations which offer scholarships or prizes to deserving students in this Corporation. But, in accepting the offer of such scholarships or prizes, the Board directs that these guidelines be observed:

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.

Sale of School Supplies

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

		1.	the organization have a purpose which will benefit the School Corporation and its students;
		2.	the organization's planned activities are clearly in the best interest of the School Corporation 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.

Surveys and Questionnaires

Neither Corporation-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.