School used DD to advertise private businesses without our knowledge.

[m011y]

Sorry, new to MN and posted under staffroom, but should have been here. AIBU.
DC school has a 'business club'. We are not part of the club and as far as I can work out its a networking organisation for parents of small businesses. Financial support of the school is not a prerequisite to joining. The business club produces a termly magazine, mostly of advertising stuff, which is also uploaded to a website. This week the magazine came home with photographs of our DD in her school uniform holding placards promoting private businesses. We don't know the businesses or their owners and didn't consent to this. We agreed (signed the form)that DC could be photographed and appear on the school website/prospectus or around the school, but this is , in our opinion, entirely different from using our DD to promote private businesses, some of which don't even support the school financially. We are furious and have emailed the club and the head and are waiting a reply. AIBU?

I suspect you have signed away rights for these photos to be taken and used.

However the school does seem to have taken and used photos against the spirit of the form you signed.

It’s one thing to have photos taken of normal school life; sitting reading, in the playground, eating lunch, sports activities etc but this seems to be in a different category.

Taking staged photos can take a deal of time - how much time was wasted doing this? We’re the comments on the boards photoshopped on later?

I think the school has a few questions to answer. I’m not sure what you’ll get as a response other than an apology, which I think you are entitled to.

If the photos are on social media/websites, particularly if the placards have photoshopped comments you might ask them to be removed. You don’t want your daughter to be a meme for life.

Is your daughter identifiable by name? If so that could open it up further ie child protection issues.

Gwen
Dd having her photo taken holding a professionally made sign with the company name on it isnt advertising?

I’d be disgusted even if I’d agreed to outside agencies. This is free modelling. The head should have issued new consent forms with an accompanying letter prior to photos being taken.

At dds School, you have 3/4 tick boxes for photo consent. One of them is ‘outside agencies’, which we don’t tick.

I think posters have different understandings of business clubs hence why some are more bothered than others.
Our school business club is run and managed by the school. It's the school that advertises events. Anyone in the school community can attend events and they are not advertised externally. The business club is not independent of the school. It's like a school drama club or football club except for parents.

I would also be angry at the school. The tricksy wording of the consent form is neither here nor there. No way is this the sort of use I’d anticipate if I were signing a form. Advertising local businesses, whether or not the sponsor the school, is not what I’d expect to be covered by a consent form.

gwen
That's how I understand it. It is a school association for parents who own businesses. Similar to thr PTA.

So to me, an image used in the newsletter of a business club is being used in a school newsletter informing parents abiut the business club / showing the services. It doesn't mean those businesses can use the image on their own websites or to advetise how/where thry like.

As I say thr OP would be fine to query it, but all this 'I'd be furious too OP' is a little over dramatic when all thr OP needs to do is calmly speak to school and then remove consent.

Whilst I completely understand your frustration, OP, I think the school may have covered themselves in the wording of the permission form. Unless they have separate tick boxes, such as a pp referred to, you have consented to allowing outside agencies to use photos of your daughter. Whilst the permission relating to the school's use of photos sounds very clear, the part about other agencies sounds very vague. The school where I work has separate boxes for different uses, but we do not allow photographs of children to be used to promote anything other than the school. So, school website, boards around the school, school social media account, local newspaper etc. An important part of the permission slip is that all photos are taken of children engaged in school activities and we do not allow anyone to photograph our pupils in the way you describe.
I don't know what the solution is wrt these pictures, however, I would be withdrawing permission for any new photographs and possibly investigate if you can force the business club to stop publishing the current ones. Depends how far you want to take it and how much you are willing and able to spend.

This club is not run by the school. It is run by parents at the school who own the businesses. That is a big difference. There for they should not be using school kids to advertise thier own businesses. Why didnt they use thier own kids?

A consent form doesn't irrevocably hand the right of a school to use images of your child as it sees fit. You can withdraw consent at any time. From what you say the School is misusing your consent and so you need to talk to whomever is responsible to make sure they understand this. They could also well be breaking the ASA's codes of practice by acting in.this way.

Governors and head. I'd expect a grovelling apology, it's completely not on.

Willow the school could argue that it depends on the context whether it is advertising or not.
If the magazine typed a list of members on their membership section, that would usually be deemed to be information not advertising.
If rather than type the names, they photograph children holding the names then they could argue it's still information rather than advertising. Technically, the addition of a photograph doesn't necessarily change the purpose of the information.
OP could argue that she feels it implies her family is endorsing the company which would be a valid implication from the photo. The 'advertising' claim is more tenuous.

I'd be furious.

Having said that the consent you signed is so wide they are probably covered.

The cat is out of the bag but i'd definitely revoke it from now on.

YANBU at all.. Imagine you were a vegetarian and one of the placards was for the local abattoir? A doctor's child promoting reiki stones?

I'd forward your complaint that you sent to the head to the head the governors.

What on earth were they thinking about?

maya
It's not a governors issue.

This is just MN all over. Have an issue with a class teacher? Report to HOD/Head. Have an issue with something in school? Call the governors! Contact the LA!

Seriously, this is why teachers laugh at thr way some parents handle things.
OP needs clarification on the policy and what she signed. She is reasonable to get a call back from the head. If she isn't happy with the way images are used then she needs to withdraw consent. No grovelling required.

Actually as a governor of a C of E school, I beg to differ. I'd contact a parent governor, as I think many C of E governors would be very uncomfortable with this.

I'd normally agree maisy but not under these circumstances.

I've also never heard of a business club but if the school has one the governors should know how it works.

This, however, isn't an issue for the Governors, OP hasn't even spoken to a teacher never mind the HT, the standard MN jumping rto the governors is , as usual, totally the wrong thing to do at the stage.

piggy I don't doubt it may make governors feel uncomfortable (it's certainly different to any business club arrangeemnt I've ever seen) but I think the correct course of action is to speak to the head first and then from there if there's no resolution pass it upwards.

Otherwise I feel like it's the equivalent of someone having an query about something with a class teacher and going straight to Hod/HOY/SLT without speaking to thr teacher first.

So you signed a consent form and are now furious that they used that permission to take a photo? Maybe you should have read it properly then.

Most of your posts mention money, so is it about money or the actual photo? If purely the photo then there was no need to mention money whatsoever.

YANBU I would be very angry in your shoes. Of course the consent forms for school use aren't meant to include free advertising for businesses!! Appalling behaviour by the school.

So you signed a consent form and are now furious that they used that permission to take a photo? Maybe you should have read it properly then.

But this is different, it's advertising outside businesses, it's not the same as appearing in the local paper or on a visitor to the school's own twitter or something. As someone above said, how to the school know the parents would be happy for their kid to be advertising a local butcher's, they might be vegetarian. I think the school is on rather shaky ground and if the OP just goes in and voices their concerns then the school will probably just have a rethink and should probably put out another consent form specific to this rather strange 'business club'.

Considering this is NOT a school newsletter but a flier about the companies in the business club it has nothing to do with ops dd.

Holding up a sign for a particular company in a business 'news letter' is for one purpise only.

Talk to the school. You can't change what's gone out but you can change what happens from now on.

Please don't get a solicitor as somebody stated. If your child is only five they have a long time at that school and in education. There could be bigger battles to spend the energy on.

I do understand your point, but just make it with authority to the school.

Yellow

Op didnt sign her child up to be frre advertising for local companies that have nothing to do with the school other than they are parents of school kids.
A company doing activities like a science lab, craft work etc is different. Kids could have their photos taken during the lesson with the agency name in the background but posing holding a sign for one particular company is not the same.

Willow are you the OP with a name change because you seem very clear on lots of details that the OP hasn't provided? The OP said it was the newsletter for the school business club but you're claiming it's an advertising flyer.

willow isn't the `OP with a name change!
the magazine is NOT the school newsletter. Its a mag produced by the business club, mostly to do with advertising said businesses.
For those who wanted clarification, our main concerns are:

1. Our DD presence implies an association and/or endorsement of a product/business we know nothing about. This is our greatest grievance.

2.We wouldn't use our daughter for advertising anything. Pictures on the school website depicting school activities are different IMO 3.this was done in school time.

yes, the money thing is a bit irrelevant, and has muddied the waters, so apologies. If the school was being sponsored thousands of pounds by said companies I'd still be annoyed for all the reasons above, but could at least see some net gain. but they aren't. there is no obligation for the companies to sponsor the school.