Political Activity Guidelines for LPS Employees

Dear LPS Staff,

An important part of civic life is having conversations that involve diverse opinions, being an advocate on important issues and participating in elections. As staff members of Lincoln Public Schools, we have a duty to do this in our personal lives while we foster a learning and working environment that does not include activities or messages that try to politically influence our students or colleagues. The following reminders and guidelines for Lincoln Public Schools staff members should help in preparing for political activity.

Thank you,
John

Goal

Students, families and community members are confident that LPS staff members have not used taxpayer resources to communicate political opinions to anyone.

Resources

You should not use school district resources to advocate for political candidates, legislation or political viewpoints (including email, websites and webpages, word processor, paper, copies, pens, meeting space in buildings, etc.).

Roles

You should not use your position with students or other members of the public to represent political candidates or political viewpoints. You may not openly advocate in your role as an employee.  If you support a candidate, please make it clear in your communications that you represent yourself and not your school or LPS.

Social Media

You can endorse or discuss candidates or political issues on social media (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, etc.) only on your personal account and during your non-work time. If your personal account is based on an LPS email address or you have labeled your personal account with an LPS title or position, you should use a different handle for political activity to avoid creating confusion.

Political Candidates and Issues in Classrooms

If one candidate is introduced in a classroom for instructional purposes, all candidates for that office should be given the same opportunity.  If all candidates in the race cannot attend, you should reconsider whether a balanced view still can be shared with students.  Candidates may visit schools for tours — just as all citizens — by contacting the school. No campaign materials may be in sight or distributed in classrooms.  Similarly, if a political or controversial issue is discussed in class, it must be discussed from a perspective of balance without advocacy on the part of the staff member.  Policy 6450 provides some guidance.

Political Email Messages

What should you do if you receive political ads or solicitations that arrive through your LPS email accounts?  First, it is not your fault, and you have not done anything wrong if you receive political ads or solicitations in your school district email.  Your email is available to the public, and any person, organization or candidate can send you an email.   If you receive a political ad or solicitation for support:

  • Please delete the email.
  • Do not forward it to anyone else, or even to yourself.
  • In addition, most emails of this type have the option to unsubscribe someplace at the bottom.  Please unsubscribe, so you are not put in this position in the future.
  • If you are interested in supporting a candidate, please reach out to the campaign on your own computer/phone and on your own time.

Political Messaging in Schools

Clothing

Staff may not wear clothing that espouses political viewpoints in front of students.  Students, unlike staff, may express political opinions and exhibit political messages on clothing while at school as long as it is not disruptive to the learning environment or are inappropriate for school (profanity, advocacy of illegal activities, etc.).

Written or Verbal Messages

Students may not hand out fliers to students en masse, though they can exchange political material with other students with whom they would normally exchange information as friends. Staff have similar guidelines in distributing political printed materials with colleagues and staff may not hand out political material to students to advocate for political positions.

If clothing or printed materials somehow creates a disruption, staff should deal with the disruption that it causes then determine if the clothing or printed materials have to be prohibited from school.