This is the second time in several years that statewide public schools have gone through a total blackout on all photos and videos sent by schools for any public display or family enjoyment outside the walls of a school.
The New Hampshire parental rights bill was signed into law by Gov. Kelly Ayotte last summer. The bill establishes specific rights for parents regarding their children's education and expands educational opportunities.
The bill aims to increase parental involvement in their children's education and establishes several rights for parents, some of which are already in place, while introducing new provisions to ensure parents play a central role in their children's educational experiences.
For instance, the bill gave parents the right to access and review their child's school records. It also allowed parents to be informed about their child's course of study and to opt them out of curricula they found objectionable. The bill also revealed the clubs and organizations the children participate in while at school. There is also the requirement that a school board develop policies that promote parental involvement in homework, attendance, and in-school discipline.
The bill also addresses students' security while in school, and, as in the past, lawmakers require families to opt in and give permission for their children to be photographed or recorded while in school.
This is not the first time a prohibition on still photography or video in the classroom has been imposed, but this time, it allowed families to sign a sheet to allow it. This means that for group activities such as a sporting event or candid groups, usually made for inclusion in a school yearbook or the local newspaper, the parents must agree to allow their child's image to appear.
This has always concerned me as a photojournalist: if I capture an image of a student whose parents do not want their child's photograph to appear in the local newspaper, we will always honor the parents' wishes without exception. We have always honored that request.
I wrote a note recently to Woodsville High School Principal Hayden Coon, asking if he has restricted any photography at Woodsville High School because of the new parental rights law. I noted to Mr. Coon that some schools have invoked the parental rights bill and prohibited photography until the situation is clearer to both the school and to those agencies shooting pictures or recording video.
Mr. Coon wrote, "We are currently working on getting messaging out to the parents. We have sent home permission slips. The parental bill essentially changes things, so instead of an opt-in permission slip, we are asking for hand signatures that would allow their image to appear.
He said that, as always, there are still First Amendment rights, such as at public school board meetings. He said there might be a pause on all photo or video, but in the near future, "we will be back to the status quo."
He added recently that roughly half of the permission slips have been returned to school. He said the staff is working to get them all back, otherwise things like the yearbook and our social media are going to be pretty boring.
I expect that more new legislation will be filed in Concord, and the schools will once again be free to allow photos or videos to be circulated in the community for those who want them.

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