As a result of the recent court ruling declaring Montgomery County Public Schools’ policy on flyer distribution unconstitutional, the school system is temporarily suspending distribution of all flyers from outside organizations in student backpacks. Flyers from the school system and other governmental agencies will be the only materials approved for distribution in backpacks. Materials from organizations such as Parent Teacher Associations, Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, etc., may be displayed on tables in school buildings, but may not be sent home in student backpacks.

This action is necessary because the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit ruled last Thursday that Board of Education Policy CNA, Informational Material and Announcements, is unconstitutional because it lacks sufficient safeguards against viewpoint discrimination. In light of the court ruling overturning the policy, the school system was left with two options until a new policy can be adopted—allow all flyers to be sent home in backpacks, or allow no flyers to be distributed, except for school system and government flyers. If all flyers were allowed, it would create an untenable position for the schools because of a deluge of flyer requests. Thus, the only viable option in the short term is to suspend the distribution of flyers from all groups.

“Temporarily suspending the distribution of flyers is the only real option the Court left us, because opening the floodgates on backpack distribution would overwhelm our staff and turn them into professional backpack stuffers instead of professional educators,” said Larry A. Bowers, chief operating officer. “We do recognize the difficulty this creates for our PTA partners and we want to find a solution to facilitate communication between our parents and our schools.”

In a letter to County PTA leaders Wednesday, Board of Education President Charles Haughey wrote that the Board of Education intends to “work as quickly as possible to amend the policy, with the aim of ensuring that PTA materials will once again be provided directly to students for distribution to families and parents.”

The Board of Education is planning to amend the policy during the fall.