Ballard School District Media Center Policies

The policies below were copied from the Ballard Board of Education Policy

Code No. 633: MEDIA CENTERS

The District shall maintain a media center in each attendance center for use by staff and by students during the school day. Materials for the media centers will be selected in accordance with Policy 614. The District shall implement curriculum covering all grade levels for instruction and reinforcement of information search and media skills, which shall be integrated with classroom instruction.

Date of Revision: March 13, 2000. Legal References: 256.11, 279.8, 280.3, 280.6, 280.14, Chapter 301, Code

of Iowa; 281 I.A.C. 12.5

BALLARD COMMUNITY SCHOOL DISTRICT BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Code No. 512a: STUDENT MEDIA CIRCULATION RECORDS

Student media circulation records are designed to be used internally to assist in the orderly administration of the District's media centers. As a general rule, student media center circulation records are considered confidential records and will be released only in compliance with the Student Records policy.

Date of Revision: September 20, 1999. Legal References: General Education Provisions Act, 20 U.S.C. 1232 g; 34 C.F.R., Part 99; 22.7(1), 22.7(13), Code of iowa; 281 I.A.C. 12.3(6).

BALLARD COMMUNITY SCHOOL DISTRICT BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Code No. 614: INSTRUCTIONAL MATERIALS; REQUESTS FOR RECONSIDERATION

A. Definition. The term "instructional materials" shall include printed materials, audio-visual materials, and computer-based materials and shall include all materials used in the classroom and available in the media centers.

B. Selection and Inspection.

1. Persons Involved. The selection of instructional materials shall be delegated to the instructional staff, under the supervision of the administrative staff. Material purchased for school media centers shall be recommended for purchase by the professional personnel of the media center in consultation with administrative and instructional staff. All material recommended shall be approved by the building administrator. All textbook adoptions shall be approved by the Board of Directors.

2. Criteria. In selecting instructional materials, the following criteria should be considered:

a. Instructional materials should support the goals of the District and the objectives

of the curricular offering in which the materials will be used.

b. Instructional materials should be appropriate for the age, emotional and social development, and ability level of the students for whom the materials are selected.

c. Instructional materials should be diverse with respect to levels of difficulty, reader appeal, and should present a variety of points of view.

d. Instructional materials should meet high standards of quality in factual content and presentation.

e. Instructional materials should have aesthetic, cultural, literary, or social value. The value and impact of any literary work will be judged as a whole, taking into account the author's intent rather than individual words, phrases or incidents.

f. Instructional materials should foster respect for children, men, women, the disabled, and minority groups and should portray a variety of roles open to people in today's world.

g. Instructional materials should be designed to motivate students to examine their own attitudes and behaviors and to comprehend their own duties, responsibilities, rights and privileges as participating citizens in a pluralistic society.

h. Instructional materials should be selected taking into account instructional materials already available in the District in order to meet the above criteria and in order to replace materials worn, obsolete or no longer appropriate. Professional staff shall provide for constant and continuing renewal of the collection not only by the addition of up-to-date material, but by the judicious elimination of materials which no longer meet needs or find use.

i. Other criteria as developed by the instructional staff under the supervision of the administrative staff.

C. Acceptance of Instructional Materials as a Gift. The District shall judge and accept or reject all gift materials based on the same criteria applied to materials selected and purchased by the District. If the gift is of sufficient value to be considered a major gift, the principal shall be informed and the gift shall be subject to the District's gift policy. The District, because of function and space of the media centers, cannot promise in all cases to maintain a collection or group of books as a single entity segregated from the circulating and reference collections. The District reserves the right to make the decision as to the most appropriate use and housing of a gift collection or group of books. Books may be identified by appropriate book plates indicating donor information.

D. Inspection. Persons may request to view instructional materials used in the District by filing a request with the building principal. All instructional materials, including teachers' manuals, films, tapes, or other supplementary material which will be used in connection with instruction on human growth and development or which will be used in connection with any survey, analysis, or evaluation as part of any federally funded program must be available for inspection by parents.

E. Reconsideration of Instructional Materials.

1. Persons. Any student, parent or guardian, licensed staff member, or resident may ask for reconsideration of instructional materials or the manner in which they are being used by using the following procedures.

2. Procedures.

a. The person asking for reconsideration of instructional material shall first meet with the licensed staff member who is using the instructional material in an attempt to resolve the matter informally. The licensed staff member shall notify the building principal that a request for reconsideration has been made. The licensed staff member may attempt to resolve the matter by offering alternative instructional materials to a student if the student or student's parent or guardian files the request.

b. In the event the matter is not satisfactorily resolved, the individual shall submit to the building principal a written request for reconsideration on a form provided by the building principal.

c. The building principal shall appoint a temporary review committee to review the matter. The review committee shall be comprised of an administrator as chairperson, two teachers, including one member, if possible, from the department where the materials are being used (but shall not include the teacher who held the informal meeting), a media professional (if the request for reconsideration is made to instructional material available in the media center, a third teacher in lieu of the media professional shall be appointed), two residents of the District, and two secondary students.

d. Within thirty (30) days of the filing of the written request, the review committee shall meet with the individual and the licensed staff member who held the informal meeting and any other person the review committee shall request to attend. Prior to said meeting, the review committee shall review the instructional material.

e. Following the meeting, the review committee shall deliberate and shall prepare a recommendation to the superintendent. The recommendation shall be in writing and shall be delivered (by personal delivery or by mail), to the superintendent, the individual requesting reconsideration, and the licensed staff member, within fifteen (15) days of the deliberation.

f. The review committee may recommend that:

i. the instructional material be retained and used as planned, or

ii. all or part of the instructional material be withdrawn, or

iii. all or part of the instructional material be limited in its use, or

iv. a different method of presentation of the instructional material be utilized.

g. The superintendent, within ten days of receipt of the recommendation, shall issue a written decision on the matter and shall deliver (by personal delivery or by mail) a copy of the decision to the individual, to the licensed staff member who held the informal meeting, and to the chair of the review committee. The superintendent may adopt, reverse or modify the decision of the review committee. The individual or the licensed staff member using the material may appeal the decision pursuant to Board Policy l008 starting at the Board level.

3. Withdrawal. Instructional materials shall not be removed or withdrawn from use during the pendency of the review process except upon three-fourths vote of the entire membership of the review committee and approval of the building principal, who shall state the reasons in writing for such action. The building principal may decide that a particular student or group of students be provided alternative instructional materials during the pendency of the review.

4. Criterion. The sole criterion for decisions shall be the appropriateness of the material for its intended educational use.

F. Elimination and Replacement of Instructional Materials. The District shall provide for the regular "weeding" and elimination of instructional materials (both classroom and media center materials). The media specialist may remove materials which are no longer important for meeting District goals and curriculum objectives. The advice of instructional personnel, students and community members may be sought. No materials shall be withdrawn or discarded merely because they contain controversial opinions. Infrequently used materials should be retained if they contribute to the excellence of the collection as a whole. Classroom instructional materials may be removed from inventory when they are no longer important to the instructional program, following general selection and replacement guidelines.

G. Copyrights. Copyrighted materials, whether they are print or nonprint, will not be duplicated unless such reproduction meets "fair use" standards or unless written permission from the copyright holder has been received. The Board does not sanction illegal duplication in any form. The four criteria for evaluating "fair use" are:

1. The purpose and character of the use, including whether such is of a commercial nature or is for non profit educational purposes;

2. The nature of the copyrighted work;

3. The amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole; and

4. The effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the work. Details about "fair use" will be made available to all staff.

Date of Revision: October 11, 2004. Legal References: 279.8, 279.50, 280.3, 280.6, 280.14, Chapter 301, Code

of Iowa; 281 I.A.C. 12.5(8), 12.5(16)

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