of their high school experience five years from now, ten, fifteen, twenty?”
In other words, the advisor impressed on students the importance of the
yearbook as a memory album, and their responsibility as recorders and
keepers of these memories.
The only problem encountered concerned the use of witty captions
under candid photographs of staff and students, a standard part of any
yearbook. Two teachers expressed their displeasure with either the photo-
graph used and/or the caption provided. Neither pursued the matter after a
promise to establish a policy to prevent such a problem in the future.
Thereafter, the yearbook staff was required to get the written permis-
sion of staff and students for such candid photographs and/or captions.
This was not a problem since most staff members were good sports and
flattered that the students had picked up on an idiosyncrasy or favorite
expression. Of course, no such permission was needed for the ordinary
student, club, and faculty photos expected in any yearbook.
Sometimes having such excellent advisors can spoil a principal. During
Ms. Niles-Perry’s last year as principal, she had a new yearbook advisor.
She was a fine teacher and Ms. Niles-Perry was lax, being busy with per-
sonal chores, including buying a home, preparing for her second career,
and planning the weddings of her two children.
Because the advisor was new, somehow several pages in the yearbook
galleys were not proofread and there were glaring usage errors on several
pages of the publication, most notably in Ms. Niles-Perry’s message to the
graduates, her final farewell to the school as well as the class. Moral of the
story: When a school leader has a new publication advisor, she needs to be
on her guard regardless of other responsibilities and distractions.
The school leader will review other school publications. One is usually
the program for the annual school concert or sing or musical or fashion
show. As this will be distributed to special guests of the school as well as
to friends and families of the students, the leader needs to proof the docu-
ment to reduce the chance of glaring grammatical or spelling errors. He
also wants to be sure that all staff members and students who contributed
to this event are given credit.
An important item developed by many principals is a “highlights”
document that celebrates the successes of the school, its students, and its
staff. Whatever a school leader decides to call this document, it is impor-
tant to publish one at the end of each school year to celebrate the school. It
Monitor the Communication 141