Copyright Policy and Critique of Forsyth County Schools Bobbie Keenan Applications of Instructional Technology - FRIT 8530 Kenneth

Clark September 19, 2009

The Forsyth County Copyright Policy

Administrative Procedures Media Program IFBD January 2007
IX. COMPLIANCE WITH COPYRIGHT LAW 1. The System Media Services contact will be charged with keeping abreast of current copyright law, regulations, and interpretations. This person is responsible for disseminating information to school system employees through the System Media Committee so that school materials, employees, and equipment will not be involved in the infringement of this law. 2. The school Media Specialists, through the Local School Media Committee, are charged with informing school staff members of copyright regulations so that school materials, employees, and equipment will not be involved in the infringement of this law.

Board Policy Instructional Materials

Use of all instructional materials in Forsyth County Schools shall be in accordance with applicable federal copyright law, as well as its most current guidelines and interpretations. Non-school owned instructional materials and community resources, both print and non-print, may be used within a schools instructional program in the Forsyth County School District at the discretion of the Local School Media Committee or the Committees designee. All non-school owned instructional materials and community resources shall meet the Media Program Selection Criteria governing Media Program Instructional Materials outlined in Forsyth County School District Policy & Procedure IFBD. Non-school owned instructional technology resources and software shall be used only in accordance with Forsyth County School District procedures governing their selection and use as provided in Forsyth County School District Policy & Procedure IFA, Instructional Media Center Materials.

Limitations on exclusive rights: Fair use.

Notwithstanding the provisions of sections 106 and 106A, the fair use of a copyrighted work, including such use by reproduction in copies or phonorecords or by any other means specified by that section, for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching (including multiple copies for classroom use), scholarship, or research, is not an infringement of copyright. In determining whether the use made of a work in any particular case

is a fair use the factors to be considered shall include (1) the purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of a commercial nature or is for nonprofit 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 copyrighted work. The fact that a work is unpublished shall not itself bar a finding of fair use if such finding is made upon consideration of all the above factors.

Critique
The private school I work at does not currently have a copyright policy. The obvious critique of my own school is to create a copyright policy as soon as possible. However, to get an idea of what others schools have in place, I decided to look at the Forsyth County (where I live) School System policy for this assignment. The Forsyth County Copyright Policy is basically a blanket statement that, I suppose, can be manipulated to their advantage if a lawsuit, concerning a copyright issue, were to arise. However, it could also work against them because their policy is so vague. Forsyth Countys Copyright Policy says that the System Media Service contact is in charge of keeping the staff up to date on current copyright law (Forsyth County School Board 2007). It then says that school Media Specialists are charged with informing school staff of these policies (Forsyth County School Board 2007). While I agree that Media Services should be responsible for keeping staff informed, the policy seems to suggests that all the responsibility lies on the shoulders of Media Services, and that should be amended to include all staff that use copyright materials. Theres also a paragraph in the instructional materials sections that refers to copyright law and fair use in regards to instructional material. At the bottom of the page, separate from said paragraph, is a link to 17 U.S.C. 107: US Code - Section 107: Limitations on exclusive rights: Fair Use. If you werent looking for information on the schools copyright policy, you would not know that that link was related to the paragraph. The link should be embedded in the paragraph, so readers will know where to look for further information. For my school, as well as Forsyth County Schools, a thorough copyright and Fair Use policy should be adopted that points out the specifics of Copyright law and Fair Use, so educators can understand what is legal, not only for print materials, but also for graphic material, music, multimedia, electronic media, software, and performances. (AlamanceBurlington Board of Education 2002) The policy should also state that if educators knowingly go against the Copyright laws, then they are responsible for any legal action that may be taken as a result (Alamance-Burlington Board of Education 2002). The policy should then be posted to the school website in its entirety, with any links that could help elaborate or clarify the specifics of the policy. In looking for other examples of school copyright policies, I found what I think is a very thorough example. This policy is from the Alamance Burlington School System in North Carolina. Not only is the policy thorough, but it is reader friendly, breaking down each section of the policy for clarification. I intend to use the Alamance-Burlington policy as a guide in constructing our own copyright policy for our school.

Reference Page
Alamance Burlington Board of Education (2002, September 24). Alamance-Burlington School System Copyright Guidelines. Retrieved from http://abss.k12.nc.us/modules/cms/pages.phtml?pageid=2677 Forsyth County School Board (2006, December 14). Board Policy Instructional Materials. Retrieved from https://eboard.eboardsolutions.com/ePolicy/policy.aspx? PC=IFA&Sch=4069&S=4069&RevNo=1.18&C=I&Z=P Forsyth County School Board (2007, January 1). Administrative Procedures Media Program IFBD January 2007. Retrieved from https://eboard.eboardsolutions.com/ePolicy/policy.aspx?PC=IFBDR(0)&Sch=4069&S=4069&RevNo=1.14&C=I&Z=R (n.d.). 17 U.S.C. 107 : US Code Section 107: Limitations on exclusive rights: Fair use. Retrieved from http://codes.lp.findlaw.com/uscode/17/107