<p>Each school year we receive the form which we can sign if we do not wish our child to be photographed or otherwise featured in the press. I was under the impression this was for very protective parents, or parents with an estranged non-custodial spouse who mustn't learn where the child is residing. However, after a recent incident where my D was confronted in a public place by a stranger who did not like a comment she had made in a newspaper interview, I find myself wondering if I should consider signing the non-consent from now on. Friends think I'm over-reacting, and claim that doing so would be hurting my D since she would no longer get attention for her athetic success. I agree that it was a freak incident, unlikely to happen again, but there's a small, nagging worry. Thoughts?</p>
<p>Would it be fair to your D to stop all because of one strange stranger? </p>
<p>Who wins?</p>
<p>A person who would challenge a teen aged girl in public has a desire to intimidate and smother. It's completely unacceptable and would say is very rare and outside the norm. I wouldn't react to that oddball situation, personally (I have two girls, too).</p>
<p>In my community, the media non consent form is mainly for families whose religious background requires this of them. It's a very sensitive thing for your school district to offer this. But I wouldn't do it however.</p>
<p>This is nothing new. When I was a child in the Dark Ages, a picture of another student and myself at the District Science Fair in front of our projects was published in the Chicago Tribune. The nut called the next day and make my mother think that he had me, and I was not at school. BTW, he knew the name of the school, etc., because the article gave it. Mother called the police, they came to school. I had police protection for days. Found out a few days later that the other girl's mother received the same call, so that was when we finally linked the calls to the photo. I still remember how I felt and my parents' panic thinking I wasn't at school (I was). I signed it for this very reason. It's sad, but...</p>
<p>sports kids are in the paper all the time....do they get such stalkers?</p>
<p>Be sure of what you are signing on the non-consent form. Some school districts will interpret it to mean you do not want your child included in a phone directory or even in the yearbook.</p>
<p>Yes, that's one problem I'm worried about, fireflyscout. Last year when this issue surfaced for the first time and I asked the school about media non-consent, I was told it was an all or nothing thing. That's why I decided against it then. However, in the meantime I've learned that my friend gave the school certain parameters that they've stuck to and have called her when in doubt about whether something was permissible or not.</p>
<p>As far as the stalker question, yes it happens. D and I attended a sports seminar and the coach who gave it spoke of having to deal with that issue with his girls team.</p>