CLEARFIELD – During public comment at Monday night’s Clearfield Area School Board meeting, photographer and local resident Ryan Bender questioned the district’s policy regarding professional photography on campus.
Bender said he was told he is not allowed to come on school property to take pictures for teams when requested and asked what the reasoning is behind the policy.
He said parents have paid for the photographs and the agreement in place with Images by Jan is currently not valid.
District Business Administrator Sam Maney explained the district has had an agreement that renews each year with Images by Jan to do photos for seniors, activities, clubs, athletics, etc. for the yearbook and these photos are all done for free.
Any money the studio makes is through packages that parents have the option of purchasing if they choose to. He said because of this, the photography is not put out for bid because the district does not pay for the service.
Additionally, he checked with Curwensville and Bald Eagle school districts and found they have similar policies.
Bender noted that he has been asked by athletic teams to take their team photos because they were unhappy with the results in the past by the current studio.
This year he was asked by the baseball team and last year by track and field. However, even though they specifically ask him to do the work, he is not permitted to come on campus and take the pictures.
Also, he said Philipsburg-Osceola’s policy differs from the other schools because they wanted to make it fairer for other photographers.
Maney noted that allowing more than one photography studio to take pictures for the yearbook would result in a greater chance of mistakes. “This is the way we’ve been doing it for years,” he said.
Bender replied that allowing this situation is a monopoly and that other photographers should be allowed to have the opportunity to take pictures and those who don’t deliver as promised would then be unable to work with the district in the future.
He added that Images by Jan does not have exclusive rights spelled out in the agreement, which he had a copy of, but other photographers are prevented from coming to the school to take pictures.
After several minutes of discussion, board President Larry Putt called an end to the discussion, stating that the matter would be discussed with the district solicitor.
