Professional Photographers Against Lock Out Contracts

Steps to Insure Your School Complies with the Bill

Now that Wisconsin is protected from the expansion of high school senior Lock Out contracts, it is time for each individual photographer to take the necessary steps to safe guard their own market area and insure compliance by their local high schools to the new law. The following are suggested steps to follow and be enacted.

1. If you have a school with an expired Lock Out contract, you should send a personal letter, on your studio’s letterhead, to the school yearbook advisor informing him/her about the new law and expressing the studios willingness to work with the school to ensure a smooth transition from their previous Lock Out policy to the new open policy.

In addition, you may want to include information about this new law, in the first mailing to your students. The law does not ban contracts, only Lock Outs. So, contract photographers still have a marketing advantage by being in the seniors face all year long. Since the students know that former classes were forced to go to the contract photographer, they may mistakenly think that they still have to do so. Neither, the school nor the contract studio, will advertise the fact that the seniors may select the photographer of their own choice to make their yearbook portrait. It falls to you to educate your buying public to be sure they realize their newfound freedom.

2. While the new law bans the growth of Lock Out contracts in Wisconsin, existing contracts are grandfathered until they expire, So, if you have a school in your area with a Lock Out contract still in force, you should send a personal letter, on your studio’s letterhead, to the school Principal and the President of the School Board, informing them about the new law and suggesting that the school might consider allowing their seniors to submit photographs from a photographer of their own choosing NOW, rather than waiting until they are forced to do so by law. Assure the school that your studio is willing to work with the school to ensure a smooth transition from their Lock Out policy to the new open policy.

If the school is not receptive to your idea, you may want to include information about this new law, in the first mailing to your students. Let the students and their families know that a new law has been passed which restores the rights of high school seniors but their school won’t recognize it until their current contract expires and, they are forced by law to do so. Suggest that they might want to call their school administrators and request that they open their school NOW before the contract, which restricts their rights officially ends. BE PREPARED to fight fire with fire. There is strength in numbers and if you can motivate the parents of your locked out seniors, what principal would want to stand up to them, especially since future seniors will have this freedom.

If, on the other hand the school agrees to accept your yearbook photographs, you will be the one responsible for letting your clients know about it. Neither, the school nor the contract studio, will advertise the fact that the seniors may select the photographer of their own choice to make their yearbook portrait. It falls to you to educate your buying public to be sure they realize their newfound freedom. Since the students know that former classes were forced to go to the contract photographer, they may think that they still have to do so.

3. Lastly, any photographer that continues to have a problem, in their marketing area, with a school’s compliance, should write a letter to the Department of Public Instruction informing them of the school’s unwillingness to comply with the new law. Of course, carbon copy the School’s Principal, the President of the School Board, the Wisconsin Association of School Boards, the Wisconsin Attorney General’s office and PPALOC, so that appropriate action may be instituted. Non-compliance by school administrators and school boards is a felony offense in Wisconsin.

By working together as a group, we can all benefit from this new law and prevent any return to the lock out policies of the past.