Granted, we trust you are all responsible and thoughtful students, but sometimes yearbook programs do things that just make you say, “What were they thinking?” Things like allowing student to put grisly hunting pictures in their senior ad or use a quote from Hitler for their personal statement. Some schools have even landed in the news for seemingly insignificant things, like the female senior in Florida who wanted to wear a tux for her senior portrait and the superintendent said no. All this leads to one point: have policies for your book to avoid controversy. A few suggestions:

• Dress code for senior portraits?
• How would the yearbook handle a student’s death in the middle of the year?
• What kinds of pictures can be used in a baby ad?
• How does the yearbook select the person for a dedication?

The more you have in writing, the less likely you’ll need to scramble for an answer when the situation arises.