Picture day is a tradition all students are familiar with. A day when students go to the gym, a quick photo is snapped and your ID is printed shortly after. This is how it has been for years, until the 23-24 school year.
“The last couple years with LifeTouch we never ran into any issues…they were able to quickly produce pictures and IDs that were quality,” Principal Jason Kline said. “This [year’s] company promised they could do that same process and did not deliver.”
On Aug. 24 and 25, picture day turned to disaster. An early out schedule was put in place Aug. 23 due to the heat advisory, releasing us at 10:50 a.m. This was followed by another shortened day Aug. 24 at 1:20 p.m. A traditional picture day spans all day where students go when their last name is scheduled. Losing these 4 hours pushed staff to try cramming in as many photos as possible.
Students were left waiting in lines for hours, some leaving without getting their picture taken at all. The majority of students were upset that they had lost class time standing around for a photo that never happened. They have a right to, but have we considered why picture day was chaos?
Just days before Aug. 24, our photographers experienced numerous medical and personal emergencies causing the company to be short-staffed and unprepared for our 1800+ student body. With the added technical difficulties and camera shortages, their staff was left to work with what they had.
Our district goes as far as selecting companies and dates months in advance for every school in the Cedar Rapids Community School District, which didn’t leave any flexibility when it came to weather delays and the photographer’s unforeseen circumstances.
“I know the district has a multiyear contract, so it wouldn’t be in our control…People from the district were here Friday morning and what they saw was unacceptable…with a school our size and the shortages, they weren’t prepared,” Kline said.
With the picture day being chaotic already, we can do our part to make it easier on Kennedy staff and photographers. Being respectful and patient is an excellent place to start. These companies spend the first month of school taking thousands of students’ photos and our understanding is key. Don’t waste everybody’s time making funny faces or holding up lines, as staff had dealt with multiple times Aug. 23-24.
“Do it right or just don’t get your picture taken, we want to get you guys back to class without messing around,” Kline said.
Kennedy’s administration hopes for next year’s picture day is that we can smoothly fit in all student and staff photos and that both students and photographers are prepared. Retakes will be held on Wednesday, October 12, for those who’d like to get their picture redone.
