Student Media Policy

 

Celebrating our Eagles While Protecting Student Privacy

 

Last updated: September 2026

 

Ashley Falls PTA uses photography, video, and social media to celebrate school life, highlight PTA programs, recognize volunteers, and help families feel connected to our community!

 

We also recognize that every family has its own comfort level when it comes to sharing a child’s image online. Student privacy, family choice, and each child’s comfort are central to how we create and publish content.

 

This policy applies to content created or published by Ashley Falls PTA on official PTA-controlled channels, including Instagram, Facebook, the PTA website, public digital newsletters, email communications, and other public-facing platforms. It complements Del Mar Union School District policies and applies whether content is captured by a PTA volunteer or submitted to the PTA by another person.

Our Commitments to Families

Ashley Falls PTA will:

  • Honor the media-consent choices families submit through DMUSD.
  • Not knowingly publish an identifiable student whose parent or guardian has opted out of media consent.
  • Never publish an individual student’s name, grade, teacher, or classroom on public PTA social media.
  • Obtain direct parent or guardian approval before including an identifiable student in an Instagram Reel or other planned video.
  • Obtain direct approval before using a student in featured, posed, interviewed, scripted, or promotional content.
  • Respect a child’s decision not to participate, even when parent or guardian approval has been provided.
  • Promptly respond to requests to edit or remove content involving a child.

District Media Consent and PTA Preferences

Ashley Falls PTA honors the media-consent selection each family makes through DMUSD.

A student whose parent or guardian has opted out will not knowingly be included in an identifiable way on official PTA social media. Before publishing student content, the PTA will work with school administration or use a direct parent-approval process to confirm that the content may be shared.

When an opted-out student appears in a photograph or video, the content will be cropped, blurred, edited, or not used.

 

Families may also provide the PTA with a preference that is more restrictive than their district media-consent selection. A parent or guardian may contact the PTA at any time and ask that their child not appear on official PTA channels.

Student Names and Identifying Information

Ashley Falls PTA will not publish an individual student’s:

  • Name
  • Grade
  • Teacher
  • Classroom assignment
  • Personal social media account or username
  • Contact information
  • Daily schedule, transportation information, or other personal details

This applies even when a student otherwise has permission to appear in a photograph or video.

We will also avoid visual details that unnecessarily identify a student’s classroom or teacher. When the location, activity, teacher, or surrounding information would make a student’s classroom readily identifiable, the PTA will obtain direct parent or guardian approval before publishing the content.

Teachers, staff members, and adult volunteers may be identified with their own permission.

Instagram Reels and Video Content

Instagram Reels and other videos often give viewers more information than a single still photograph. A student’s face, voice, movements, surroundings, and interactions may all be visible.

For that reason, Ashley Falls PTA will obtain direct approval from a parent or guardian before publishing a Reel or planned video that includes an identifiable student. This additional approval is required even when the student has district media consent on file.

This applies to students who are:

  • Speaking or responding to questions
  • Holding a sign or promotional message
  • Participating in a planned scene
  • Appearing in the foreground or background of a Reel
  • Being interviewed or asked to give a testimonial
  • Promoting a PTA event, fundraiser, membership campaign, survey, contest, or giveaway
  • Otherwise, identifiable in the finished video

When multiple identifiable students appear in a Reel, approval must be received for each student. Students without direct approval must be cropped, blurred, made unidentifiable, or removed from the final content.

Approval may be documented through a PTA permission form, email, text message, or another written method. The PTA will retain a record of the approval while the content remains in use.

Featured and Posed Photographs

Direct parent or guardian approval will also be obtained when a student is the primary subject of a planned photograph, including when a student is:

  • Asked to pose for the PTA
  • Holding a sign, product, prize, or promotional item
  • Featured individually
  • Photographed in a classroom-specific setting
  • Participating in promotional or fundraising content

For general event photography, students may appear in appropriate group or activity photographs when media consent has been confirmed and the student is not individually identified.

Event and Group Photography

PTA volunteers may take photographs at PTA programs, celebrations, and community events to document and share the experience.

When selecting event photographs for official PTA use, we will:

  • Review media-consent information before posting identifiable students.
  • Favor wider group and activity photographs when appropriate.
  • Avoid publishing names or classroom information.
  • Avoid embarrassing, sensitive, vulnerable, or private moments.
  • Crop, blur, or exclude students who should not appear.
  • Obtain direct approval when a student becomes the clear focus of the content.
  • Avoid tagging students or linking to their personal accounts.

Photography notices may be displayed at PTA events as a helpful reminder, but an event notice is not treated as a substitute for parent or guardian permission.

A Child’s Choice Matters

Parent or guardian approval does not require a child to participate.

 

A student may decline to be photographed or recorded, stop participating at any time, or ask that a photograph or video not be used. PTA volunteers will respect the student’s wishes without pressure or consequence.

 

Our goal is for students to feel celebrated and comfortable, never obligated to participate in PTA content.

Removal Requests

A parent or guardian may ask the PTA to remove or edit a photograph or video involving their child at any time, including when permission was previously provided.

 

Requests may be sent to president@ashleyfallspta.org. Including a link or screenshot of the content will help us locate it quickly.

 

The PTA will review the request and remove, archive, crop, blur, or otherwise edit the content as soon as reasonably possible. Families do not need to provide a detailed explanation for a removal request.

Personal Photography at PTA Events

This policy governs official Ashley Falls PTA accounts and volunteers creating content on behalf of the PTA. It does not control photographs or videos taken by individual parents, family members, students, or guests for their personal accounts.

 

We ask all members of the Ashley Falls community to respect other families’ privacy preferences. Please do not publicly identify, name, or tag another person’s child without that family’s permission.

Content and Community Standards

Official Ashley Falls PTA content will remain respectful, positive, truthful, discreet, and responsible.

PTA channels will not be used for content that is:

  • Commercial, except for approved PTA fundraising, sponsorship recognition, or program-related information
  • Partisan or connected to support for or opposition to a political candidate
  • Sectarian
  • Discriminatory, threatening, offensive, or harassing
  • Embarrassing or demeaning to a student, family, staff member, or volunteer
  • Unrelated to Ashley Falls PTA’s mission, programs, activities, or school community
  • In violation of copyright, privacy, or other applicable requirements

Whenever the platform supports it, the PTA will also work to make content accessible through readable captions, descriptive text, alt text, and other accessibility practices.

Comments on PTA Social Media

We welcome positive and constructive community engagement. Comments may be hidden or removed when they:

  • Identify a student by name, grade, teacher, or classroom
  • Share private or personal information
  • Include abusive, discriminatory, threatening, or offensive language
  • Promote a political candidate or commercial business without approval
  • Contain spam or unrelated solicitations
  • Are unrelated to the original post
  • Compromise the privacy or safety of a student, family, staff member, or volunteer

When possible, concerns involving an individual child should be shared privately with the PTA rather than posted publicly in a comment.

Policy Guidance

Ashley Falls PTA’s bylaws require its officers and committee chairs to follow the responsibilities and procedures in the California State PTA Toolkit. The bylaws also state that the association is obligated to follow California State PTA policy statements contained in the Toolkit.

 

California State PTA allows local units to establish their own social media policies and states that PTA posts should be respectful, truthful, discreet, responsible, noncommercial, nonsectarian, and nonpartisan.

 

National PTA recommends obtaining releases for photographs and videos involving children, particularly when content will be used for promotional purposes, and emphasizes the importance of respecting family privacy.

 

DMUSD also maintains district-approved social media guidance and digital citizenship resources for students, staff, and families.

 

Ashley Falls PTA may update this policy as technology, platforms, district procedures, and PTA guidance evolve.

Questions or Concerns

Questions about this policy, requests regarding a child’s participation, or requests to remove content may be sent to:

 

Ashley Falls PTA President
president@ashleyfallspta.org