Board to eye new ?ier policy

Students in city schools soon might have fewer papers to carry home from school.

The Chapel Hill-Carrboro Board of Education will conduct a work session tonight to examine changing its policy on the kinds of materials that can be distributed in schools.

Under the policy, students only could receive school-approved materials from the district, parent-teacher associations or school-sponsored booster groups, and all levels of government.

The changes would not restrict student-to-student flier distribution, and schools could also allow organizations to distribute information at designated areas outside school buildings.

The proposed revisions to the policy stem from concerns over recent court cases that have limited schools’ ability to prohibit the distribution of certain literature based on its content, according to the board’s Thursday agenda.

“In general, we want to distribute most things,” board member Ed Sechrest said. “We just want to make sure we don’t distribute anything that’s inappropriate or discriminatory.”

The district’s policy now allows approved nonprofits, school groups and government organizations to distribute fliers. For-profit groups can distribute information as well, but only if they partner with individual schools or the district.

“We don’t have a policy that’s clear,” Sechrest said. “The principals have to make judgment calls, and we don’t want to put them in that position.”

So far this school year, the district has approved 116 fliers for distribution and denied 16.

If the board approves the new policy, schools would discontinue the distribution of materials from such organizations as Pa’lante, the Chapel Hill Youth Lacrosse League and the ArtsCenter Summer Children’s Programs.

But Sechrest said the new policy will not affect most of the information given to students.

“This is not going to affect 95 percent of what we do,” he said.

Orange County Schools passed a similar policy in November.

District spokeswoman Anne D’Annunzio said the district was looking at revising all its policies and decided to change the distribution rules in response to concerns about litigation from across the country.

“We had no choice,” she said.

D’Annunzio said she was uncomfortable sending home fliers for summer camps that the school did not have the chance to investigate.

She said the district is planning a back-to-school fair that will give all groups an opportunity to get materials to students and parents.

“We are inviting people who have had a historic relationship with us to set up tables to get their information to parents,” D’Annunzio said.

Contact the City Editor at citydesk@unc.edu.