Expert: Michael Troy - 10/1/2008

Question
My local high school's year book advisor set a policy that makes it mandatory for all 12th grade students to be photographed for the school's 2009 yearbook.  They are paying a professional photographer to come in to the school and force all students to be photographed by this company if they want to be included in the book. Is this a violation of the students civil rights?  My second question is can a public school hire photographers based on a personal relationship with the teacher, without a competive bidding process?

Answer
Hi Jim,

Keep in mind that I cannot provide specific legal advice in this forum.  I can only discuss the matter generally.

That said, compelling a student to be photographed against his will might be considered a violation of privacy.  But if the rule is simply that the photography is simply a condition of being in the yearbook, and a student can refuse the photograph and refuse to be in the yearbook, I don't see any constitutional issue there.

As far as the hiring of such a photographer, that is really a matter of local law.  There is no Constitutional issue with such an arrangement.

I hope this helps!
- Mike