We can't make your child famous without your permission

When a newspaper reporter shows up at a local school, club activity, sporting activity or any other youth event, the hams instinctively know where the camera is, and which way it's pointing. These young stars are looking for their 15 minutes of fame, and they'll do just about anything to get their pictures in the newspaper.

Most publications, especially community-based ones such as the Frontiersman, are only too happy to oblige young lens hounds. It's always nice to put a youthful face on the newspaper, and the kids, and their parents, usually get a kick out of the brief fame a photo can bring.

Unfortunately, we can't publish photos of many of the young people we photograph, and it may simply be due to a misunderstanding in many cases. Schools hand out a lot of paperwork in those hectic first weeks. Parents and students are overwhelmed with decisions to make and documents to sign to back those decisions up. Some of the important papers get scrunched up in the bottom of backpacks, and others simply disappear like those pesky socks in the dryer.

Among those many papers is a form that asks parents if they give permission for photos of their children to appear in newspapers and other media. It's important to protect the privacy of children, and some parents sincerely do not want photos of their children appearing in print without specific permission. We support that, and we'd never want to do something to make parents or children uncomfortable. That is why we always check with the school before running a photograph of any child.

However, we suspect that some parents simply don't realize what the permission slip is asking. Part of our coverage of this community involves covering events on a largely spontaneous basis. Something interesting is happening at a local school, and we dash out to get the story -- and the photos that go with it. After taking the photos, and identifying the students in those photos, the reporter goes to the school office to make sure those students can appear in the paper. If one student in a group photo does not have permission, we can't run that photo. We lose a lot of great pictures that way.

If you don't want photos of your children to appear in the Frontiersman, we support that. If you don't mind, please check with the school and make sure your child has permission to appear in print. Thank you.