2027%20District%20Ownership%20of%20Staff%20Created%20Work%20-%20WSSDA%20P%26L%20News%20April%202015.pdf

Parent document: REGULAR MEETING OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS 5_30 PM-02-12-2025.pdf

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(S) POLICY APRIL 2015

New policy on district ownership
of staff-created work ae fa
e

districts control and f

SSDA has created a new
Policy and Procedure 2027,
District Ownership of Staff-

Created Work, based on the federal
Copyright Act of 1976, which holds
that an employee’s original works of
authorship are “work made for hire”
by the employer, who by law is the
“author” of such works. The “academic
exception” to “work made for hire,”
which allows higher education profes-
sors and instructors to claim authorship
of scholarly works, does not currently
apply in the K-12 setting.

The new policy and procedure were
developed to coordinate with the
overhaul of Policy/Procedure 2020.
The increasing online presence
of K-12 teacher-created instruc-
tional materials, of varying quality
and offered for sale and otherwise,
requires districts to maintain some
measure of control over works made
for hire on district time and/or utilizing
district resources or students.

At the same time, districts need flexi-
bility. By that we mean a process to
determine whether a staff person is
justified in maintaining ownership
of the work, when, for example, the
work was created on the employee’s
own time or by the employee’s sole
initiative and purpose. The new policy
and procedure provide criteria by
which a district can make this deter-
mination and an appeals process for
the affected employee.

Additionally, districts now have the

xibility

option to license work made for hire in
order to contribute to or participate in
Open Educational Resources (OER)*
repositories operated by libraries,
districts, the state and other state and
national educational organizations.
Exciting and beneficial for students as
it appears, districts may want to keep
in mind the following suggestions
when diving into the OER pool.

First, it is highly recommended that
districts consult with legal counsel
regarding the licensing process,
which should be tailored to the
district’s unique needs and typically
involves drafting of a licensing
agreement.

Second, districts should keep in mind
that Washington’s Public Records
Act requires, with a few exceptions,
disclosure upon request of any record
created by a public employee during
work hours and/or in the posses-
sion of a public entity. Regardless of
whether a district chooses to license
materials for OER use or decides to
allow a staff member to retain owner-
ship of work, the work may remain
subject to public records request.

Third, districts are advised to oversee
and review all staff-created materi-
als to ensure that they are indeed
original works and not plagiarized
district or educational publisher
materials. For this reason, desig-
nating a staff person to coordinate
the district’s OER program is highly
recommended.

*See article on Policy 2020 and Procedure 2027P, attached to this issue, for more information

on Open Educational Resources (OER).

Immunization policy
updated amid upswing
in state and national
measles outbreaks

SSDA has updated Policy
and Procedure 6512, Infec-
tion Control Problem, at the

request of the Washington State Depart-
ment of Health. The changes reflect
efforts to ensure that staff members
and volunteers provide documentation
of immunization for measles, mumps,
rubella (MMR), varicella (chickenpox),
diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis and influ-
enza. The procedure clarifies that staff
who are anticipated to be exposed to
blood or other infectious material will
participate in training within ten days of
employment and annually prior to the
start of school.

As the Seattle Times reported on April
1, ahigh-profile Disneyland outbreak of
measles has spurred a nationwide push
to vaccinate against the highly conta-
gious disease. In December of last
year, a contagious traveler reportedly
infected 146 unvaccinated theme-park
visitors. The Times reported that as of
March 27, the U.S. has seen 178 cases
of measles in 17 states including the
District of Columbia.

In Washington, Clallam County seems
to be ground zero for measles. Five of
the state’s eight measles cases have
been reported there. On a positive
note, according to the Washington
State Department of Health, measles
vaccinations have increased by 27%
in the wake of the Disneyland case.

POLICY AND LEGAL NEWS = WSSDA 8