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Overview
The following guidelines are meant as a reference when working with the media. Please call the Commmunications Department immediately if you have any questions.
- Per Procedure 9375
, media do not have the right to enter school property unless given permission by the school principal. Media and the general public do not require permission, however, to be on the public sidewalks at schools. - All visitors, including media, are required to check in at the front office.
- If media would like to speak with or photograph a student on camera, a media permission slip (English
| Spanish ) must be filled out and signed by the student's parent or guardian prior to the interview.
- Media inquiries about students involved in police-related matters or activities that have taken place off school grounds and not during the regular school day should be referred to the San Diego Unified School District Police Services at (619) 725-7000 or the San Diego Police Department.
- Yearbooks are public documents available to the media and public.
- The district has no legal obligation to disclose whether an individual student attends a specific school. Such information is considered a student record and is not public information. General information regarding enrollment is public information.
Publicizing Your School
If your school has a story that you think deserves media attention, the Communications Department is available to help, or you may issue your own media advisory or press release.
When sending out publicity materials, remember to:
- Have students fill out media/parent permission slips:
English
|
Spanish
.
- Have a few students designated and available for interviews with media.
- Include the Communications Department in your distribution.
Guide to Calendar Listings
There are several major calendar listing sections in the San Diego area that San Diego Unified schools can use to publicize events. These include San Diego Reader, San Diego Union-Tribune Night & Day Section, the San Diego Union- Tribune news staff, Citybeat, and the Preview section of the North County Times. Calendar listings are the best way to get information out to your community and publicize your events. Calendar listings are reserved for events open to the general public. If your event is not open to the public, don’t send it to the calendar listings.
Keep the information concise. Your description should be no longer than 35 words. Add the contact information, time and address and you’ll have about 60 words. Any longer and the publications may edit – or leave out – your listing. Publications may edit your information and it may be left out since this is not a paid advertisement. If you can submit items several weeks in advance, it will help. See individual publications’ deadlines as they vary. Please let the Communications Department know about your listings. You can e-mail a copy to communications@sandi.net or send via school mail. Contact Jack Brandais at jbrandais@sandi.net or (619) 725-5570 if you have any questions.
How Events Are Listed
Each calendar has a slightly different way of listing events. What they have in common is their brevity. Keep it short, keep it simple. Below is a recent district event, translated into “calendarese.”
Event Title: Honor Chorus Concert
Description: Concert of 120 elementary, 60 middle school and 80 high school students from throughout the San Diego Unified School District. Elementary school dancers and musicians from a variety of grades will be accompanying the chorus.
Time, date, place: 7 p.m., Saturday, March 24, Pt. Loma Nazarene College, Brown Chapel, 3900 Lomaland Drive.
Admission charge: Free.
Telephone number for public contact: Information: (858) 539-5352.
(Note: This is a phone number that will be printed in the newspaper and put on the publication’s web site. Make sure it’s a number that can take lots of calls. Using cell phone numbers should be avoided.)
Honor Chorus Concert: Concert of 120 elementary, 60 middle school and 80 high school students from throughout the San Diego Unified School District. Elementary school dancers and musicians from a variety of grades will be accompanying the chorus. 7 p.m., Saturday, March 24, Pt. Loma Nazarene College, Brown Chapel, 3900 Lomaland Drive. Free. (858) 539-5352.
Publications also generally want a contact name, e-mail and phone number to call if they need any further information. This is a nonpublic number.
Publications
Each publication has a slightly different format and way of submitting. Here are details.
San Diego Reader: Publishes on Thursday. Deadline for e-mail submission is 5 p.m. Friday prior to issue. Use the form on the web site: http://www.sandiegoreader.com/events/submit/
San Diego Union-Tribune:
- Night & Day Section: Runs Thursdays in the newspaper, always available online. Send e-mail to: entertainment@uniontrib.com
- Main News Sections: You may have an event that doesn’t fit into the “entertainment” section, such as a lecture or parent/community meeting. At its web site, the Union-Tribune has a handy guide, “Getting Your News in the Newspaper”: http://www.signonsandiego.com/about/ut/submit_news.html. The Communications Department can help with these types of events.
North County Times Preview Section: Newspaper covers everything from Del Mar, Rancho Penasquitos and Rancho Bernardo north into Riverside County. They’re out of our district, but if you want to invite everybody in the county, it’s a good idea to include the North County Times. Here are the instructions from their web site:
Press releases for arts and entertainment events and programs should be typed, double-spaced, with basic information about the event, performance dates and times, location, ticket prices and a public telephone number. Send notices two to three weeks before the event to Preview, 950 Escondido Ave., Vista, CA 92083 or via email to preview@nctimes.com. Or fax items to (760) 631-6630. http://www.nctimes.com/contact_us/send_news/
San Diego Family Magazine: Monthly magazine with extensive calendar listing. Deadline: Two months before month of publication. Information at http://www.sandiegofamily.com/pages/Calendar_Guidelines.html
San Diego Magazine: Charitable Events Calendar - The monthly magazine has an online listing for charitable events. Register and submit your listing.
Media Advisories
Media advisories are used to alert and invite the media to future events. Advisories outline the five Ws and gives a contact name and telephone number for information.
- Include the date and time of the event, location and description.
- Be sure to include a contact name and phone number.
- Send (usually by fax) three to four days in advance to broadcast media.
- Fax about a week ahead to print media.
- Follow up with media by phone the morning of the event.
- This sample media advisory illustrates standard formatting.
News Releases
For larger stories, you may want to develop a news release, which can also be distributed to media during or after an event. These are longer, more detailed accounts of the event.
- Try to keep to one page.
- Put most important information at the beginning, and less important following.
- Send (usually by fax) the day of the event.
- Be sure to include a contact name and phone number.
- This sample news release illustrates standard formatting.
Media Directory
The Media Directory lists contact information for local television and radio stations, as well as community newspapers.
Send media advisories and news releases to:
- Assignment Editors at television stations
- News Directors at radio stations
- Editors at local publications
- Communications Department
You may also send advisories to the photo desk when you have highly visual events such as school plays or assemblies.
Please email communications@sandi.net or call us at (619) 725-5578 if you notice any Media Directory inaccuracies.
Contact Information
Eugene Brucker Education Center
4100 Normal Street, #2145
San Diego, CA 92103-2682
Phone: (619) 725-5578
Fax: (619) 725-5576
Email: communications@sandi.net
