Center for Rights

Don't copyright the classroom!

A School Board in Maryland is considering a policy of copyrighting all student and teacher work. So a senior paper, a first grader's poem, and a teacher's art would all belong to the school system.

This could set a precedent -- can you imagine if every school did this?

Tell the Prince George's County Board of Education: "Please don't copyright your students' and teachers' best work!"

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Just one more thing

Thanks for signing the petition! Please share this page with your friends to make sure that the Prince George's County Board of Education does the right thing for their students and teachers.

Copyright is hurting creativity and education.

Overzealous copyright laws are being used right now to attack public education through lawsuits over teachers sharing resources. Corporations are constantly attempting to undermine Fair Use standards that help make educational materials affordable especially for less affluent schools and universities. Forcing copyright on the work that students and teachers produce will only stifle creativity and innovation in the classroom.

Can you imagine if every school did this?

Copyright is getting out of control. Prince George's County is a large school system. If this policy goes into effect, it could set a terrible precedent at a time when quality education is needed more than ever. Students and teachers deserve the same rights as everyone else. With this policy, a high school student could get a takedown notice from their own school for posting a video they made for class on YouTube.

Every poem, essay, song, drawing...

Kids should have some choices about what to do with the things they create. The policy that the Board of Education has proposed is unprecedented because it would affect work created even on a teacher's own time and with their own materials. So that means that if you're in a band for school and you write a hit song for class in your friends' basement, the school system will own that song. That's absurd.

Prince George's County Board of Education wants to do the right thing.

Copyright policy is confusing, and there's a lot of bad information out there for a School System trying to figure out how to adapt to new technologies. We know that the Prince George's County Board of Education just wants to do what's best for the students, and that's why we're asking everyone to sign and share this petition. Enough feedback can get this school board to see that this policy would undermine student and teacher engagement and be harmful to the school system's overall educational mission.