Our Policies Regarding Yearbooks
Our Policies Regarding Yearbooks
Please note that when you purchase a Yearbook, you are agreeing to the exact order you paid for, to be picked up at the Bath Central School District. There will be no returns, or full or partial refunds, even if you are unpleased with the final product purchased. Books are distributed directly to the students from the club in the Spring, but we are not able to mail your product to you, even if you move away before the end of the school year. We want to be as accommodating and helpful as we can, but know that we cannot provide a retail business-level service to you as we are simply a non-for-profit organization offering learning opportunities for students.
Be aware that the full price of the book is not what you paid for it, as several Yearbook Club students run intensive fundraising projects to supplement the purchase price for each and every student. For example, a Haverlinguist Book is approximately $95, discounted to you for this year's price. You are receiving approximately a 35-40% discounted price for the book as a result of hard work completed by other students.
The club is unable to offer receipts of payment for purchases made. However, please refer to the Varsity Yearbook website or emails to check on digital purchases you made there.
As well, please remember that mistakes are more than likely to occur in the creation of the Yearbook, as the book is a student-lead project created in only a few short months by nonprofessional graphic design and editing learners. Students are taught revisions skills, and work with a teacher to create and edit lots of different kinds of material. Errors are to be expected, even though it is our mission to edit and revise as much of the content as we can. You agree to understanding these notes upon your purchase.
Yearbook returns or refunds are not available, regardless of your opinion of the book, and especially in the circimstance that there is writing in the book. Books that have been written in are not resellable, and we cannot return or refund you for the purchase.
We cannot guarantee we received your cash payment as we do not issue receipts, which is clearly stated on our order forms. We do our very best to ensure we note every single order that comes in. Sometimes students lose the money, the money gets mixed up in the process, or checks that were written bounced. To be sure we received your payment, we ask that you email mshuart@bathcsd.org before January 1st of each school year to confirm your purchase. If you believe you paid in cash, but we do not have a record of it, we will be unable to fulfill your order. It is best to order using our website with a credit card, or pay with a check or money order. It leaves a better trail of payment.
The Yearbook Staff offers parents and family the opportunity to create the ad to their liking by using editing software (even if you pay by check), such as what we offer on this webpage. We cannot always guarantee perfection with your advertisement when students put it together for you, and while we attempt to fix errors, it is likely they will still occur. Note that we are not responsible for the digital quality of the images uploaded or sent to us for final printing. Parent ads submitted with errors or writing issues are not the responsibility of the staff to correct. In the same way, errors made by the students when typing out your hard copy messages are likely. Refunds will not be available for mistakes made in the final editing of the yearbook. Please know that your purchase not only congratulates your student, but also offers another student a learning opportunity and helps us to fund the purchase of the yearbooks for all students. We wish we could offer the service of a full graphics design business and editing team, but we are just a school program looking for your support. Lastly, the purchase of a Senior Ad does not mean you have also purchased a book; the book is a separate order. When you purchase and submit materials for the Senior Ad you are agreeing that you understand this note.
***Submitted hard copy materials cannot be sent back or returned.
When it comes to the submission of a Yearbook Senior Portrait, both for the yearbook and for the "end-of-the-year" video assembly, students/parents/photographers are responsible for turning this in to the yearbook advisor by October 15th. If there are issues acquiring a photograph, or an issue with photographer appointment timing, do let Mrs. Ortiz know right away.
To be sure all students can participate in the Senior Portrait section of the yearbook, and in the "end-of-the-year" video assembly, students can opt to have Lifetouch take their photo in the Fall Student Picture Day. This is the responsibility of the student to complete, but Lifetouch will send the advisor the photo to use without an additional purchase on your part. Regardless of what photo the student prefers, it is the responsiblility of the Senior to be sure that the advisor is made aware of what photo is intended to be used in the yearbook. Students should check both their Class Google Classroom, and our submission lists to be sure we have what they want in the yearbook.
Those who do not submit their portrait will not get a reminder or request to submit, other than the requests presented at class meetings, and in Senior Class mailings over the summer.
***Submitted hard copy materials cannot be sent back or returned.
For the 7th-12th yearbooks, students or community members can visit the high school main office in the Haverling Building after distribution of the yearbook. Please bring exact cash only. This is only while supplies last.
We would like to apologize for any errors in our book. Please know that we may not respond to all voicemails or emails regarding the content printed in the yearbooks. Many issues are unresolvable once the book is printed, and we ask that you reread our policy on purchases. As well, unless you have proof of purchase, or we have proof of purchase, any purchases not on our lists count as not purchased. Thank you for understanding.
We are at the mercy of what Lifetouch has sent us, and what we can interpret from their data. In that case, we cannot guarantee that retake photos have been added as the Yearbook portrait. Often we only have the 1st scheduled portrait day photo to use in the Yearbook. We apologize.
Because we are at the mercy of what Lifetouch has sent us, and what we can interpret from their data, it is possible we did not receive a photo taken by Lifetouch on our school portrait days, and therefore that photo is also not in the Yearbook. We do not intend to leave anyone out, however, it is also impossible to know what data and images are missing, or the reasons why Lifetouch is missing something.
Students who do not have their photos taken at our 1st scheduled portrait day may not be in the Yearbook. It is our intention to include portraits taken on the 2nd scheduled portrait day, or retake day, however we often lack the ability on our end to know what Lifetouch has to send us and what they do not.
Name data on portrait pages in the Yearbook has been attached to photos digitally in the Lifetouch imports. If Lifetouch has made a mistake in the spelling of names, or in other data, it is likely we did not catch the mistake, and it has gone unfixed. We apologize.
While students are advised to take their Lifetouch photo by the administration, teachers, and the Yearbook Advisors, some students avoid the cameras and do not follow directions to ge their picture taken. We cannot fix this issue, and we are not responsible for students who did not take their picture. As well, we do not follow up untaken photos by getting pictures of students ourselves, or by using old photos. In the future, please be sure your child takes their photo on School Portrait Day each year.
Students who purposefully make unbefitting facial expressions, or any other inappropriate gestures or faces, other than a standard smile, their photo will not be included in the Yearbook, and will not be followed up by the staff to take a new picture. Final choices about what represents something unbefitting or inappropriate will be at the discretion of the Yearbook Production Advisor. In addition, photos that contain expressions or gestures that violate our policy or school rules may be turned into the office for disciplinary reporting.
Our yearbook goal for the 600 students, grades 7-12, that we serve in our 212 page publication and assembly videos, is to get them pictured or written about in at least 3 places. We focus on capturing as many upper classmen as possible before they graduate, but we want to represent everyone in all grades the best we can. We have 4 cameras we use for the typically small staff size we have to capture as many events and school activities as we can. As well, we utilize an outside service for our "People Section" school portraits , and for our Sports photos that we typically have little control over. Getting photos of students who do not participate in school activities, or do not come to school regularly, is outside of our control. We also have no control over school absences on Yearbook Group Photo day, or other photo days. We greatly apologize for any discomfort the number of times your child is or is not in the yearbook brings you or the student. We are accepting students in 11th and 12th grade to join the Yearbook class next year, and we encourage your child to consider participating to help us mitigate these issues in the future. As well, feel free to send school-related photos to kortiz@bathcsd.org during the school year to potentially give us an opportunity to include the events we may unintentionally miss.
We are very sorry you have an issue. Likely the teachers who work on the Yearbook are busy returning to their teaching and Regents Exam preparations. If a response doesn't have a viable conclusion, or is covered above, we will likely not return your message.
We ask that you do not send rude or demanding emails or voicemails to the advisors. Please take into account that a lot of work has gone into the Yearbook by a group of high school students and one teacher in a short span of time, and the season for creating and distributing the Yearbook has come to end for this year.