ANAHEIM : District OKs Policy on Campus Flyers

Most business and political organizations will not be allowed to distribute flyers or other literature on Magnolia School District grounds under a policy given tentative approval by the Board of Trustees this week.

The policy, similar to those adopted by other school districts, states that commercial organizations can only distribute literature if the product or service being advertised “benefits the children of the district at a reduced cost or no cost.”

Nonprofit groups will have a freer rein, but the policy goes on to say that the material must be free of “social, racial, sexual, religious, political (and) ethnic” bias. It also says that the material cannot be sexually explicit or obscene and that the distributing organization must be locally based or have local ties.

Magnolia is a west Anaheim elementary school district with 5,300 students in kindergarten through sixth grade. It has eight schools.

“We are asked regularly to distribute non-school materials regularly by such organizations as the city Recreation Department and the Boy Scouts,” Supt. Paul Mercier said. He said the policy will not affect those groups.

But if it became necessary to stop or forbid a group from distributing materials unsuitable for the district’s students, Mercier said he wanted a written policy “so we’re not just relying on someone’s judgment.”

The board is scheduled to give final approval to the policy Dec. 14.