Student Info Disclosure

Occasionally, District 155 and its schools may release student directory information, student works, and/or images to a variety of external audiences. These include the public, media, higher education, military, and approved vendors. Below you will find information about each of these groups. For the purposes of this section, student directory information includes a student’s name, address, and telephone number, gender, grade level, birth date and place, parent's name and address, academic awards, degrees and honors, information in relation to school-sponsored activities, organizations and athletics, the student's major field of study, and period of attendance in the school (District 155 Board Policy 7:340). Student directory information also shall include photographs, videos, or digital images used for information or news-related purposes of a student participating in school or school-sponsored activities, organizations, or athletics that have appeared in school publications such as yearbooks, newspapers, or sporting or fine arts programs, except that no photograph highlighting individual faces shall be used for commercial purposes including solicitation, advertising, promotion, or fundraising without the prior specific written consent of the parent or student, as applicable. No information protected by the Illinois School Student Records Act shall be released to any audience.

Public Use
District 155 and its schools may release student information, student works, and images publicly through a variety of mediums. These include but are not limited to yearbooks, website stories and listings, playbills/programs, sports rosters, art shows, social media sites, public presentations and videos, graduation programs, honors night programs, and sports programs.

Media Use
District 155 and its schools may release student information, student works, and images to the media for numerous reasons. These include but are not limited to press releases and other communications with media representatives. Additionally, District 155 may grant access to school facilities during the regular school day when interruptions to the learning environment can be avoided. During these rare occasions a student may be interviewed or photographed in a school setting for use by a media outlet in print and/or online. Please be aware that public and some semi-public events (including but not limited to sports contests, graduation, and performances) are not governed by this procedure, and that a student and his/her parent/guardian agree to be photographed and/or interviewed by the media by participating in such activities.

Higher Education Use
District 155 may release student directory information to institutions of higher education including four-year and two-year colleges and universities, and trade/technical schools.

Military Use
Under Illinois School Code, District 155 must provide access to the "high school campus[es] and student directory information to the official recruiting representatives of the armed forces of Illinois and the United States for the purpose of informing students of the educational and career opportunities available in the military." (105 ILCS 5/10-20.5a(a)). This information "may be used only to provide information to the students concerning educational and career opportunities available in the military and may not be released to a person who is not involved in recruiting students for the armed forces of Illinois or the United States." (105 ILCS 5/10-20.5a(d)). If a student or his/her parent/guardian submit a signed, written request to the high school before the end of the student's sophomore year (or if the student is a transfer student, by the end of his/her first year at a District 155 school or by the end of the transfer student's sophomore year, whichever is later), the district will not provide access to the student's directory information. The request must indicate that the student or his/her parent/guardian does not want the student's directory information to be provided to official recruiting representatives, and must be addressed to student's guidance counselor.

Approved Vendor Use
District 155 partners with several entities that provide services to its students. These include but are not limited to providers of yearbooks, student portraits, class rings, graduation supplies (caps, gowns, announcements), school booster clubs.

Opting Out
To opt out of any or all of these uses (except Military Use, see below), please submit your name, the name(s) of your student(s), the school, and specifically from which uses you would like to exclude your student's directory information, works, and images to Shannon Podzimek, director of communications, spodzimek@d155.org​. Please be aware that opting out of any specific use excludes your student from any use within that category (i.e. if you opt out of Public Use, you are doing so for any such use including the yearbook, programs, etc.). Opting out any use (except Military Use) will restrict the release of student directory information, student works, and images for only the current school year.

For Military Use, a student or his/her parent/guardian must opt-out through a signed, written request that must indicate that the student or his/her parent/guardian does not want the student's directory information to be provided to official recruiting representatives of the armed forces of Illinois and the United States. This must be addressed to student's guidance counselor and received by the district no later than the end of the student's sophomore year or, if the student is a transfer student, no later than his/her first year in District or the end of the transfer student's sophomore year, whichever is later.

If you have additional questions, contact Shannon Podzimek, director of communications at 815-455-8500 or email: spodzimek@d155.org​.