SchoolMatters Blog

Schools to keep new flier policy

9/15/06 * Daily Progress [full story]

The Albemarle County School Board reached a middle ground Thursday night in its discussion of the division’s flier distribution policy, agreeing that schools will continue to distribute fliers from all nonprofit groups until it decides on a policy that is less burdensome for teachers.

“I value our schools as community centers and I don’t want to stifle that,” Board member Steve Koleszar said. “At the same time, I don’t want this to get out of control.”

Diane Behrens, the director of support and planning services for the division, said she researched the flier distribution policies for 14 other school divisions. Behrens found that none allows all nonprofits to hand out fliers to students.

She also said that she conducted a poll of Albemarle principals and most said they would like to limit distribution to school-sponsored events.

To flyer or not to flyer...

At church this morning, several friends approached me to inquire about the flyer controversy which was covered in a Daily Progress article last week (and before that in C-Ville Weekly).  Given their questions, I thought it might be helpful to share some additional information on this issue.

At our meeting Thursday, the Albemarle County School Board is expected to change the policy related to the distribution of outside materials in one of two ways:

1. the Board will allow equal access to ALL outside organizations subject to reasonable time, place, manner and other content-neutral restrictions; or
2. the Board will eliminate the distribution of all outside materials to our students. HOWEVER, school and governmental agencies (e.g., PTO/PTA, booster clubs, County Parks and Recreation, etc.) would still have access. 

Principals were surveyed and they have recommended to the Superintendent that the board adopt option #2.  At our last meeting, I indicated I would support option #1 and I brought to the Board my research on what other school divisions were doing around the country by adding disclaimers on all outside flyers.  Staff have drafted the following disclaimer for the Board's consideration:

“Albemarle County Public Schools neither endorses nor sponsors the organization or activity represented in this material.  The distribution or display of this material is provided as a community service.”

You may be wondering why we are having to change our policy?  It is because of recent court cases that have informed School Boards they cannot deny a request from a religious organization if they allow other outside organizations to distribute materials.  Current Albemarle County policy explicitly prohibits the distribution of literature that is for religious purposes.  I have also received questions about how the Boy Scouts can distribute materials since they reference "duty to god" as an obligation of membership.  I turns out they have special access to distribute flyers because of a 2003 law passed in Virginia.  So because of this Virginia law, if you allow anyone to distribute flyers, the Boy Scouts and the Girl Scouts get access too.  If you ban all outside groups, the law would not apply.

Albemarle's current policy was challenged over the summer at Hollymead Elementary when school staff denied distribution of flyers related to a vacation bible school.  After further review and in light of recent court cases, school staff allowed the flyer to be distributed and set in motion the School Board's review of the flyer policy. You can read the press release from Liberty Counsel thanking us for promptly reversing the denial at Hollymead. 

According to the material for this week's Board meeting [to be posted here on Monday], there were requests to distribute 97 flyers during all of 2005-06 across the division.  For arguments sake, let's assume all those flyer requests were intended for all students in all schools.  According to my math that works out to be one flyer being distributed every 2 school days.  If you collected the flyers for distribution in the backpacks on Fridays and adjusted for the fact not every school gets every flyer, it seems to me based on this data that at the most you would have 2 flyers a week being sent home with students.

If I was writing the laws... I'd keep the policy we have and deny religious materials from being distributed.  However, I support the continued distribution of materials by outside groups, even if the courts require us to accommodate religious materials, because it means groups like the following who applied in 2005-06 will still have access:

4-H
Basketball Leagues
Book Festivals
Boy Scouts
Cheerleading Clinics
Children’s Theatre
Contests & Art Related
Cub Scouts
Football Leagues
Girl Scouts & Brownies
Library & Story Time
Soccer & Lacrosse Leagues
Softball Leagues
Summer Camps
Swimming Events & Teams
YMCA Programs

I think the positive aspect of communicating these enrichment opportunities to our students, particularly if the rate of distribution is as low as two flyers a week, is a benefit we should support.

Brian Wheeler

P.S. We should add to the proposed disclaimer: "and are not printed at taxpayer expense."  Outside groups certainly shouldn't expect us to pay for the printing and paper.

Schools to review flier rules: County examines legality questions

9/8/06 * Daily Progress [full story]

Religious groups’ contention that the Albemarle County School Board’s flier distribution and building access policies are unconstitutional has prompted the division to change its guidelines.

The board, however, has yet to reach a consensus on whether to allow all groups to distribute fliers and use buildings or limit circulation and building use to school and government organizations. A third option for flier distribution is to end it altogether.

After students at Hollymead Elemen-tary were denied permission to hand out fliers announcing a church-sponsored vacation Bible school during summer session, their father contacted Liberty Counsel, a nonprofit group that offers litigation and policy advice. Liberty Counsel sent a letter to Albemarle County officials advising that the school system’s flier distribution policy was unconstitutional. Soon after, county School Board attorney Mark Trank called Liberty Counsel explaining that the board would change its policy.

....

Brian Wheeler, the at-large School Board member, supported allowing all outside groups that provide a service to the community to give out fliers. However, he proposed that each flier have a disclaimer explaining that Albemarle County schools are not affiliated with the mission of any group.

“If we did that, I think the benefits we get as a community from advertising some of these services that are important to our families would outweigh the downside of things going out that we might have otherwise said no to in the past,” he said.

President Bush on "Intelligent Design"

Yesterday, President Bush told a group of reporters in a White House interview that he supports the teaching of "Intelligent Design" (Creationism) alongside evolution in our public schools.  The Los Angeles Times story is linked here.  A CNN piece on the news today said this was nothing new from President Bush and that he has always advocated exposing students to different theories about the origins of life, including Creationism, since he was Governor of Texas.

When I ran for School Board in 2003, I first shared my views on this issue.  I believe in the separation of church and state. I am opposed to the teaching of creationism.    Brian Wheeler