Lakeland school district bans political campaigning on school property

On Oct. 21, the Lakeland Joint School District board of trustees adopted a policy prohibiting electioneering on school property. The policy took effect ahead of Election Day, when many Lakeland schools served as polling places.

“This policy doesn’t make that much difference,” said Lakeland Superintendent Jake Massey. “There are already laws in place and other district policy to prevent disruption. This just kind of cleans it up.”

The policy defines electioneering as any activity that advocates for a political candidate or ballot measure, including soliciting signatures, displaying campaign signs, distributing pamphlets or verbally dispensing electioneering information.

The policy prohibits those activities on school property year-round, including during summer break, with no exceptions.

“It just makes it clear, especially since we often rent out our facilities over the summer, our facilities are to remain apolitical,” Massey said.

Under Idaho Code 18-2318, electioneering is prohibited within 250 feet of a polling place's primary entrance or exit. The district's new policy extends that restriction to all school property.

“It has been very common on election day for people to show up and hand out pamphlets on school property,” Massey said. “But I don’t believe anything has ever gotten out of hand in the past.”

Massey said the policy was not adopted in response to any specific incident. Instead, he said, the school board proposed the measure to reduce students' and parents' exposure to campaign materials.

Kate McCarthy, a Lakeland parent who was present at the school board meeting, said two board trustees voted against it. She said one of them cited concern over restricting freedom of speech. McCarthy said she personally supports the policy.

"I think schools should be a place of neutrality," McCarthy said. "This isn't necessarily a political move for anybody, this should be a nonpartisan thing."

On Oct. 27, Massey emailed Lakeland families to explain the new policy.

“This policy is about more than election days,” the email said. “Our schools exist to provide a safe and secure educational environment for our students and this helps protect that environment every day of the year.”