SERIES 1000 Community Relations

1112 News Media Relations

The Board of Education has appreciation for the role of the media in informing the public about educational matters. The Board of Education, however, must be ever cognizant of its responsibilities in the effective operation of the schools and in the protection of the rights of all individuals including those of students. With those concerns in mind, the Board of Education delegates to the Superintendent of Schools the responsibility to approve all requests from the media to enter the schools, school yards, and/or to film any school activity. The Superintendent of Schools will consider the following factors prior to making a decision:

1.     Protection of the individuals from undue pressure by the media must be considered at all times.

2.    Any commercial use of the filming will require the approval of the Board of Education.

3.     The Board of Education is not responsible for any damage done to cameras, film, lights, etc. used for filming.

4.     Any filming or taping should have minimum disruption of the program or activity.

5.    Media personnel should agree to focus emphasis on the activity itself and not on superfluous events that may occur.

6.     The filming or broadcast company will sign the following statement prior to recording:

“The         (name of station)                agrees to hold harmless the Thomaston Board Education, the  Town of Thomaston and any of its offices, agents, or employees from any liability that may result from the video-taping of/or recording the event taking place in the Thomaston Public School system.” 

7.    Any exploitation of any student is to be avoided to every possible degree.

8.   All media personnel will supply proper identification if asked and will give as much advance notice of  their visitation as        circumstances dictate.

Policy adopted: April 13, 2015 THOMASTON PUBLIC SCHOOLS Thomaston, Connecticut