District 54 School Board Policy 8:25(b) encourages the district to find a way to distribute information highlighting community events that nurture and support the growth and welfare of children and families. In an effort to follow this policy, we will approve links to information from local nonprofit organizations and post them on the District 54 Virtual Backpack.
This service is provided as a courtesy to our school community. All materials are reviewed by the Community Relations Department and must meet the following expectations.
Criteria for Approval
- The activity or event must be a fun or educational activity for school-aged children/families.
- Organizations must be not-for-profit. It is the organization’s responsibility to provide proof of its not-for-profit status.
- Organizations must be within District 54 boundaries or in neighboring towns.
- Flyers/information may not include blatant advertising on behalf of for-profit corporations.
- Flyers/information may not include any verbiage regarding alcohol, tobacco, drugs or similar products.
- Board policy prohibits the distribution to students of campaign materials endorsing political candidates, parties or issues in upcoming local, state or federal elections. This includes events sponsored by candidates running for election. Legislator-sponsored event flyers will be approved when the legislator is not running for office.
- Flyers/information for fundraisers will only be approved if the fundraiser directly benefits school-aged children.
- Solicitation or distribution will not be authorized on behalf of any organizations which may create a disruptive force or a threat to the educational process.
Process for Approval
- Post the flyer or information on your organization’s website.
- Email a link to the flyer on your organization’s website to [email protected] at least two weeks prior to the event or registration deadline.
- District 54 reserves the right to deny any flyers/information based on the above criteria.
- Organizations will be notified by email of flyer approval or denial.
- If your flyer/information is approved, we will post the link to your website at sd54.org/virtualbackpack. The post will include the title of the flyer, so make sure you give your link the name that you want appearing on our website.
- No other District 54 department is authorized to approve flyers for distribution.
Additional Guidelines
- Organizations can have no more than two links on the site at any time. If you have two links on the site, and want to post a new one, please let the Community Relations Department know which link you would like us to take down at that time.
- Links can remain on the website for no more than one month. They will be removed after one month or after the event has passed.
PTA
PTAs often get requests as well from local organizations, other government entities and private businesses to run information in their newsletters. We have asked the PTA to refer those requests to the Community Relations Department. District 54 will assist in the distribution of information from the PTA. PTA information can be posted on the website, distributed to students and emailed to families.
District 54 Education Foundation
District 54 will assist in the distribution of information from the Foundation. Foundation information can be posted on the website, distributed to students and emailed to families.
Distribution of flyers to staff is a site-based decision. If an organization drops off flyers and requests that they are given to staff only, that is the principal’s decision. School staff will not be responsible for copying or distributing the information. Instead, information approved by the principal will be left in the staff lounge.
