Principal’s Feedback on Fair Use Guidelines

My principal was very excited to see the Fair Use Guidelines. He thought the brochure was a great idea and that it was colourful and appealing. He requested that we make copies and distribute them to all the teachers.

After reading the brochure he was confident that teachers were generally making fair use of photocopied materials but he realized that the burning of cds and dvds was an area where we would have to be more careful as well as how we used movies and shows such as ‘Sesame Street’. He expressed the view that in Trinidad and Tobago that it was very easy to get away with copyright infringement especially in terms of piracy of dvds which was rampant.

He agreed that it was against the law and that teachers ought to be aware of the laws concerning the use of copyrighted materials. He said that he felt most teachers took the photocopying of materials for granted and that they would be surprised at the limitations placed on them with regards to photocopying workbooks especially. Although our school did not have internet access, many of the teachers had internet access at home so he felt that teachers still ought to be aware of the correct and legal use of the internet as a source of information for use in the classroom.

He therefore thought it was necessary for the staff to discuss the guidelines at a staff meeting or in smaller meetings with the different departments to get feedback and to come up with the school’s own policy regarding fair use as well as copyright rules for students.