Hm.

A proposal by the Prince George’s County Board of Education to copyright work created by staff and students for school could mean that a picture drawn by a first-grader, a lesson plan developed by a teacher or an app created by a teen would belong to the school system, not the individual.

The measure has some worried that by the system claiming ownership to the work of others, creativity could be stifled and there would be little incentive to come up with innovative ways to educate students. Some have questioned the legality of the proposal as it relates to students.

I suppose this just means a student’s best and most interesting work will have to done extra-curricular wise, outside the educational process.  Which is usually how it works anyways.

“The way this policy is written, it essentially says if a student writes a paper, goes home and polishes it up and expands it, the school district can knock on the door and say, ‘We want a piece of that,’ ” Rein said. “I can’t imagine that.”

A lot of stick figure drawings will be owned by Prince George’s Education.  That does seem a shame.  I guess if we get one of those “disturbed gun wielding zombie story / drawing suspension” stories that makes the news every so often, the school district will get the proceeds from the online outrage sources?  That seems a shame.

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