Unfortunately, you are treated with the same attitude that is shared by most school districts. As an employee you have to bow to the will and whim of the administration while parents, students, press, and pros, are permitted to do what you are not. Bottom line is and always will be if the administration deems it has no benefit for them or the school, you are out. Why you were singled out vs others will remain a mystery you will never unravel.
This comes from the same people that have video cameras on the school buses. It's not about student safety or rights, it's about liability. Parents have and will sue schools for almost anything these days.

Well, I am working on it, and maybe will get permission to shoot at their home games. I figure if I can get some decent photos, and provide a service for the school, maybe it can be expanded later. Who knows.

We have video on most of the buses now, but that is another farce. It was supposed to be done to help with the serious discipline problems we were having on a lot of the buses. In practice, every time they pulled the video because of an incident, they ended up blaming me! "The kids are shouting abuse out of the window because you are not stopping them..." No, I am trying to safely drive through town in an ancient vehicle which *nobody* ever wants to get caught behind... I reported one student for persistent foul language - and it *was* foul. The head of transportation (same person at the head of this thread) refused to even submit it to the principal, because she said I had to be audible on the tape, saying "don't swear", at least every couple of seconds... These are high school students, not kindergarteners. They know the rules, which are posted at the front of every bus, but nobody will do anything because I am not constantly repeating them. Everyone agrees that there should be an aide on every bus, but the school district says that it is the contractors' responsibility to pay for that, and the contractors say it is the school district's responsibility. So, nobody pays for it, and we don't have it. We are required to maintain discipline on the bus, while driving it. Heaven help the driver who has an accident because he was busy maintaining discipline...!

I read a few pages of some of the posts and don't have time today to read them all. I shoot primarily sports. (Freelance and for hire) A school can't stop you from taking pictures from the stands and posting them unless you are making money on the photos. (Whole new set of rules)No parent consent is required or anything. Most schools require the parents in the beginning of the school year to sign the student hand book. And in most contracts they ask the parents for permission to use pictures taken at the school or events to help benefit the school.
Now some of your larger schools will contract all photos out and the pro photographer will have a clause that says they take all official school pictures except for people with media passes. So checking with legal is a legit delay sometimes.
The best route to a school to get on the field or court is thru the Athletic Directors and the person responsible for the Annual or school news paper. I get a lot of invites just posting extra pictures I have on the opposing schools or alumnis Facebook pages.
I wish you luck. Not sure what equipment you are using now. But be prepared to sink some serious dollars into equipment if shooting in gyms or under lights if you haven't already done so.

I am always looking to expand my skills, trying my hand at macro, portraits, HDR, etc. I recently upgraded my equipment quite a bit, and want to try my hand at sports photography.

First, a bit of background... I am a school bus driver, currently with more than 10 years on the job. This year, I have pulled back a bit, and am basically driving as a substitute, and taking field trips for the sports teams.

So, here I am, spending a couple of afternoons a week sitting on a bus, waiting for the teams to finish their games and come back, so I can run them back to school again.

Seems like a recipe for happiness, yes? Or at least serendipity...

Yesterday afternoon, I was to take our middle-school girl's basketball team to a neighboring school district. I know that some school districts are a bit 'peculiar' when it comes to photos of students (I had a discipline issue on the bus, and the mother of the culprit was called in to the school - she was not allowed to watch the video, because it portrayed other students...), so I called the school that we were to visit. The secretary wouldn't even consider the question, and passed me on to the principal, who of course was not at his desk, so I left a message. I explained that I was a bus driver, bringing the visiting teams for their games, and would like to photograph the games.

He never called back, or at least not until after I left. Someone on his staff *did* however, call the transportation director of this district, basically saying "why is this pervert wanting to take photos of our students?". My boss got a phone call that she really couldn't answer.

I was told that under no circumstances was I to enter their school building with a camera.

An administrator from the school we were visiting did eventually call back and leave me a message. Apparently, they only allow professional press photographers to take pictures of their games...

Do these people realize that every single person who comes to watch the games is carrying a camera in their phone??? Parents, friends, even other members of the team, are all snapping away on their cellphones. The kids on the team were all comparing their photos on the bus going back afterwards...

What kind of sick minds do these people have, that they can only think a pervert might want to take photos? I do this for my church, and occasionally for the local Y, when I run trips for their summer daycare. I am strictly amateur, and when I have processed the images, I drop off a CD, and tell them that they can pass pictures on to interested parents. My church pictures usually get posted on Facebook, and/or the church's own website.

So, here I am, wanting to take sports photographs, and I get to sit on the bus waiting for the kids to come out... I could go in, but I am only interested in the photography side, and have no real interest in the game, per se.

Anybody else come across this kind of stupidity???