In accordance  with Section  19.6 of the Rules of the Board of Regents and Marcus Whitman Central  School  District  policy,  the  direct  solicitation  of  charitable  donations  from  public school students on school property during school hours in which they are compelled to be in attendance  is strictly prohibited.

To implement the terms of District policy and the Rules of the Board of Regents, the following regulations shall apply:

1)     School children may be recruited to participate as fundraisers for the benefit of a charity on a voluntary  basis when such fundraising  is to be conducted  off school  premises  and/or when school is not in session. School personnel may distribute flyers or other literature, put up posters or otherwise  notify students of out-of-school  fundraising activities.  However, school personnel may not act as a conduit and collect funds from students on behalf of a charity for which they recruited, even though the funds were raised by students off school property and not during school hours.

2)      The prohibition against solicitation of charitable donations "during school hours" extends to homerooms and lunch periods. School hours end when students are released from compulsory attendance,  which means that the Rules of the Board of Regents and District policy prohibiting such solicitation of charitable donations from students does not apply to before-school or after-school extracurricular periods.

3)     The District will allow school children to participate in fundraising athletic events, such as walk-a-thons    in   which   the   school   children   perform   and   receive   pledges   from parents/guardians and members of the community at large, as long as the school itself is not used as a conduit to collect the money earned on behalf of the organization.

4)      The District may allow students  to participate  during the school day in a food drive or clothing drive or similar activity involving the donation of goods for the needy only where the food,clothing, other goods or funds are collected in a non-coercive and passive fashion, such as through a bin or receptacle placed in a hallway or other common area, so that the identities of students making and not making donations are not revealed. Collection of charitable  contributions  of  food,  clothing,  other  goods  or  funds  from  students  in  the classroom or homeroom is prohibited.

5)      Student participation in fundraising activities off school premises which occurs as part of a community  service  program  in which students  receive  high school  credit  for providing services to a charitable organization shall not be prohibited, provided that there is no solicitation of donations from students while they are attending school.

6)    Student organizations may engage in fundraising for charitable purposes as an extracurricular activity provided that the student organization does not solicit funds directly from students during school hours.