School District to Copyright Student and Teacher Work

Located in Upper Marlboro, Maryland, the Prince George’s County School District has named many of their schools after important innovative leaders, such as Barack Obama, Cesar Chavez, Martin Luther King Jr. and Frederick Douglass, among others. The district’s mission statement reads, “The Prince George’s County Board of Education will advance the achievement of its diverse student body through community engagement, sound policy governance, accountability and fiscal responsibility.”

While the district prides itself on the celebration of diversity and student achievement, its ability to practice “sound policy governance” has come under intense scrutiny by a number of news sources lately. In particular, the school board’s recent consideration of a policy that could allow them to assume ownership of student and teacher work has raised eyebrows, according to Education News.

The Policy

The school board’s chair and vice chair, Verjeana M. Jacobs and Carolyn M. Boston, had recently been in attendance at an Apple demonstration of teacher-created apps, according to the Education News article. Since many of these apps could have been worked on by teachers during the school day, there was some confusion as to who actually “owns” the apps, since they may also be used within school curriculum. In response, Prince George's County's proposed policy takes a broad approach to what it considers school property. It reads:

“Works created by employees and/or students specifically for use by the Prince George’s County Public Schools or a specific school or department within PGCPS are properties of the Board of Education even if created on the employee’s or student’s time and with the use of their materials. Further, works created during school/work hours, with the use of school system materials and within the scope of an employee’s position or student’s classroom work assignment(s), are the properties of the Board of Education.”

While the board has yet to formally vote on or adopt this policy, it would give the district copyrights on anything created by students or teachers that has any connection to the district, whether it is a story written by a student for English class or an app that a teacher created on his or her own time but uses in the classroom.

The Response

Many community members, education professionals and legal experts have expressed outrage over the proposal. In an article in the Washington Post, lawyer and law professor David Rein said that the adoption of this policy can go as far as allowing schools to profit financially from student and teacher work. Rein stated, “The way this policy is written, it essentially says if a student writes a paper, goes home and polishes it up and expands it, the school district can knock on the door and say, ‘We want a piece of that.’ I can’t imagine that.”

In response to the amount of criticism that it has received, members of the board have been quick to rebut the negative commentary. Verjeana M. Jacobs explained, “Counsel needs to restructure the language. We want the district to get the recognition ... not take their work.” Since the proposal was recently taken off of the most recent board meeting agenda, it is unclear when the board will make its final decision.

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